“I thought so all the time, and I am so glad!” and she turned away to prepare Gussie for the dreaded hour.

The time passed heavily and sadly, until the day drew near its close.  Mrs. Jarvis was sitting near the bed, watching, with the eyes of an experienced nurse, for any change, and presently she bent over Dexie, who was kneeling by the bedside, and whispered: 

“I think I had better bring back your mother.  Do you think she can bear it?”

“She must bear it!” Dexie answered, with a sob.

As Jarvis left the room, Guy quietly entered it, and saw at a glance that the end was near.  Dexie gave him one appealing look as he came beside her.

Bending over, he laid his arm across her shoulder, and whispered: 

“Is there anything I can do, darling?”

Dexie shook her head, and the look on her face told of the anguish that was wringing her heart.

Seeing that her father had opened his eyes, she bent nearer.

“Are you in pain, dear papa?”

“No, dear child; and I shall soon be where that question is never asked.”

Lifting his eyes, he saw Guy, and his lips parted in a smile.

“So glad you have come, my boy!” and he held out his hand.  “You have indeed been like a son to me from the very first.  You will be good to my little girl, and do not wait to claim her; take her very soon, and do not let her fret for me.  Raise me up, Traverse!  Ah! that is easier,” as Guy seated himself on the bed, and raised his head and shoulders on a pillow with his arm.

Supported by Guy’s arm, and with his head leaning against Guy’s shoulder, Mr. Sherwood embraced his wife, who was led to the bedside by Jarvis, and Dexie bowed her head from the sight of the despair written on her mother’s face.

The family were soon assembled around the bed.  Mrs. Jarvis lifted Flossie in her arms, and telling her to “kiss papa good-night,” laid her on the bed beside him a moment, then carried her from the room, and the few loving words spoken to Georgie did much to make him grow up a true, good man.

Gussie was overcome with grief when she realized that her father was dying, but Louie’s loving arm was thrown around her, and she restrained her sobs to hear her father’s last few words.

It was a sad scene.  The dying father, supported in the arms of Guy Traverse, was looking for the last time on the faces of his family.  Dexie, kneeling close to where Guy sat, with one of her father’s hands clasped in both her own, was silently weeping.  Mrs. Sherwood was kneeling on the opposite side of the bed, her face hidden against her dying husband’s breast.  Louie and Gussie stood near, their arms around each other’s waists; while Mrs. Jarvis stood behind them, her arms extended across their shoulders, as if she would willingly protect them from this anguish if she could.  Poor Georgie sobbed at the foot of the bed, a picture of childish woe.