But how can I refuse my
dying child? Oh, madam, you are good, kind, forgiving; keep my poor girl
alive for me: keep telling her Alfred is coming; she cares more for him
than for her poor heart-broken father."
And the miserable man rushed out, leaving Mrs. Dodd in tears for him.
He was no sooner gone than Julia came in; and clasped her mother, and
trembled on her bosom. Then Mrs. Dodd knew she had overheard Mr. Hardie's
last words.
Jane Hardie, too, though much exhausted by the scene with her father, put
out her hand to Julia, and took hers, and said feebly, but with a sweet
smile, "He is coming, love; all shall be well." Then to herself as it
were, and looking up with a gentle rapture in her pale face--
"Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of
God."
On this thought she seemed to feed with innocent joy; but for a long time
was too weak to speak again.
Mr. Hardie, rushing from the house, found Edward at work outside; he was
crying undisguisedly, and with his coat off, working harder at spreading
the straw than both the two men together he had got to help him.
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