Page:The Country-House Party.djvu/24

16 one who, like her, had the heart of a rover. She had begged John to take her away when she just learned her days were numbered.

'Let us travel, John; let us roam till I die on the road. We will go into the sunshine till the clay is warm beneath our feet, and I can look upon it without horror. Or let us go up amongst the snows till our spirits are one with the Great White God who sits upon the peaks—so I shall fear not the death of my body!'

John had soothed her almost with tears. 'My dear, my dear,' he had said, all distressed, 'you are excited and not well, or you would never think of such a thing. What should I do if anything happened to you far away from home, where we have been together so long, and where I hope to end my days, and follow you, if you should go first, so that we can lie together in my father's family vault; and where I hope James, and James's children, will come after us when they are called.'

Did she not feel in her heart of hearts that this was the greatest dread of all, to rest there in that gloomy vault, in company with John's father and