Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 3.djvu/258

248 harrowing to my soul, because I know I cannot help him. I did my best to sooth and comfort him.

"'Death is so terrible,' he cried, 'I cannot bear it! You don't know, Helen—you can't imagine what it is, because you haven't it before you; and when I'm buried, you'll return to your old ways and be as happy as ever, and all the world will go on just as busy and merry as if I had never been; while I ——' He burst into tears.

"'You needn't let that distress you,' I said; 'we shall all follow you soon enough.'

"'I wish to God I could take you with me now!' he exclaimed, 'you should plead for me.'

"'No man can deliver his brother, nor make agreement unto God for him,' I replied: "it cost more to redeem their souls"—it cost the blood of an incarnate God, perfect and sinless in himself, to redeem us from the bondage of the evil one;—let Him plead for you.'

"But I seem to speak in vain. He does