"There is no further
any hope for me in the physician's art."
A sob choked all further utterance.
How oppressed was the cold-hearted, selfish man of the world! His
thoughts were all clouded, and his lips for a time sealed. As the
dying woman said, so he felt that it was. The time of her departure
had come. An instinct of self-protection--protection for his
feelings--caused him, after a few moments, to say, and he turned
partly from the bed as he spoke--
"Some of your friends should be with you, madam, at this time. Let me
go for them. Have you a sister or near relative in the city?"
The words and movement of Mr. Jasper restored at once the conscious
self-possession of the dying mother, and she raised herself partly up
with a quick motion, and a gleam of light in her countenance.
"Oh, sir," she said eagerly, "do not go yet. I have no sister, no near
relative; none but you to whom I can speak my last words and give my
last injunction. You were my husband's friend while he lived, and to
you has he committed the care of his widow and orphan. I am called,
alas, too soon! to follow him; and now, in the sight of God, and
in the presence of his spirit--for I feel that he is near us now--I
commit to you the care of this dear child. Oh, sir! be to her as a
father. Love her tenderly, and care for her as if she were your own.
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