The minister’s words of peace and comfort, spoken at this moment, were sorely needed, for the prayer had scarcely ended when Mrs. Sherwood raised her eyes to her husband’s face and saw the change that passed over it.  A few murmured words fell from his lips as he looked into her face, then his eyes closed and his spirit was gone to the God who gave it.

Guy laid the form gently back on the bed, and something in his face must have told the stricken wife that all was over, for her piercing shriek chilled everyone to the heart.

Guy was just in time to catch Dexie’s fainting form and bear her from the room, when the children round the bedside understood that they were fatherless.

CHAPTER XLIII.

Many changes took place in the household during the weeks following Mr. Sherwood’s death.  It was a sorrowful time to live through, and a most unpleasant memory to look back upon.

These were days of trial to Dexie.  There was no one in the house that she could turn to for sympathy, for Louie had returned home the week after the funeral, and the house seemed desolate.

Mrs. Jarvis was called away by a case of sickness in another household, and Gussie, finding herself free from all restraint, made so many unreasonable demands on the patient and willing domestic that she refused to submit to it longer, and left the house; consequently, the actual work of the household, as well as the care and responsibility, rested on Dexie’s shoulders.

Mrs. Sherwood had not left her room since the day her husband was buried, and her frequent hysterical attacks were very alarming to the rest of the family.  She seemed as fretful and helpless as a child, and quite as unreasonable, almost blaming her husband for dying and leaving her alone in the world.

When Dexie tried to draw her thoughts away from their sad bereavement, she charged her daughter with being hard-hearted and unsympathizing in the extreme, and it seemed as if she did not wish to be comforted.

Lawyer Hackett attended the funeral, but as Mrs. Sherwood was not able to discuss business matters at that unhappy time, he promised to return later on and explain all things necessary.

Dexie awaited his return with much anxiety, for the expenses of the funeral, together with their necessary mourning, left little ready money to meet the daily expenses, and it was only by the strictest economy that she managed at all.  Her “scrimping,” as Gussie called it, met with no favor from anyone; and though Mrs. Sherwood talked of “ordering” this and that from the store, Dexie positively refused to be the mouthpiece of the order.  They could do very well till Mr. Hackett arrived, she said.

Dexie missed her father sorely, and the one bright spot in the long, toilsome day was when Guy came in the evening.  Then they would walk out together through the quiet streets to the country beyond, and she always returned refreshed and strengthened to bear the burden of another day.