Page:Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since.djvu/242

 more to partake of the holy Sacrament. Will you bear my request to him, Father?"

"The feet of Zachary shall travel any where for the comfort of his daughter," said the old warriour, rising to receive a letter which she held towards him.

"I knew it would be necessary to give some explanation of my birth and education, before I could expect the favour which my heart desires. You see now, Father, why I requested you to procure a few sheets of paper from the town. I have written in few words, for my hand is weak. Perhaps I may yet intrust to the man of God all my history, if I shall be strengthened to record it."

Pausing, she added, "But it must not meet his eye, till mine is closed."

Martha rose, with that undefinable sensation which moves us to shrink from any subject by which our feelings are agonized, and throwing up the casement for a moment, through which the soft, humid air of Spring breathed, said—

"Have you seen, Oriana, how your woodbine grows? Soon it will be raising up its young blossoms to look at you, through the window."

"It will remind you of me, kind Mother," she said, "and may its fragrance be soothing to you, even as your tenderness has been to the lonely, and withering heart."

Again there was silence, and then the aged man, raising his head from his bosom where it had declined, spake in