Page:The tragedy of the Korosko (IA tragedyofkorosko00doylrich).pdf/342

 Fardet held up his wrist with a cotton bandage still round it.

“The body does not forget as quickly as the mind. This does not look very dream-like or far away, Mrs. Belmont.”

“How hard it is that some should be spared, and some not! If only Mr. Brown and Mr. Headingly were with us, then I should not have one care in the world,” cried Sadie. “Why should they have been taken, and we left?”

Mr. Stuart had limped on to the deck with an open book in his hand, a thick stick supporting his injured leg.

“Why is the ripe fruit picked, and the unripe left?” said he in answer to the young girl’s exclamation. “We know nothing of the spiritual state of these poor dear young fellows, but the great Master Gardener plucks His fruit according to His own knowledge. I brought you up a passage to read to you.”

There was a lantern upon the table, and he sat down beside it. The yellow light shone upon his heavy cheek and the red edges of his