Page:Traits and Trials.pdf/184

178 then proceeded to throw in the mould heaped on either side. The pit was at last full; but he could not bear to trample it down. He then knelt, and by the light of the clear full moon, now shining in the glory of a tropical night, read aloud the burial service of the dead. The solemn and consoling words had their due effect. With a tranquilised spirit he returned home. His sister had never before been left for one quarter of an hour by herself; yet he had felt no anxiety, Providence was watching over her, and there he found her; her little arm under her head, almost hidden by the black curls, the sweet breath coming regularly from her parted lips, one cheek flushed into the brightest rose, and seeming as if she had never stirred since he parted from her. Francis did not himself attempt to go to bed. At length fatigue overpowered him, and he slept long and sweetly. On his awakening he found Marion seated at his feet watching, but without an effort to disturb him, though it was long past noon. Mournfully, indeed, did the first week pass away without Michael; incessant were Marion's enquiries when he would return: it is so difficult to give a child an idea of death. But, as day after day passed by, poor Frank grew more anxious; for