Her heart is rich with affection, and upon you will its treasures be
poured out. Take her! take her as your own! Here I give to you, in
this the solemn hour of my departure, that which to me is above all
price."
And as she said this, with a suddenly renewed strength, she lifted
the child, and, ere Jasper could check the movement, placed her in his
arms. Then, with one long, eager, clinging kiss pressed upon the
lips of that child, she sank backward on the bed; and life, which had
flashed up brightly for a moment, went out in this world for ever.
CHAPTER III.
Leonard Jasper would have been less than human had he borne such an
assault upon his feelings without emotion; less than human had his
heart instantly and spontaneously rejected the dying mother's wildly
eloquent appeal. He was bewildered, startled, even deeply moved.
The moment he could, with propriety and a decent regard for
appearances, get away from the house where he had witnessed so painful
a scene, he returned to his place of business in a sobered, thoughtful
state of mind. He had not anticipated so direct a guardianship of
Ruben Elder's child as it was evident would now devolve upon him,
in consequence of the mother's death. Here was to be trouble for
him--this was his feeling so soon as there was a little time for
reaction--and trouble without profit.
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