But as Mr. Jeminy bent
over her, her breath failed; her head fell back, and with a single,
frightened glance, Mrs. Grumble passed away, without saying what she
had intended.
Mr. Jeminy closed her eyes, and folded her hands across her breast.
"She is gone already," he thought; "she is far away. She has pressed
ahead, so swiftly, beyond sight or hearing."
He bent his head. "You made me comfortable in my life, Mrs. Grumble,"
he said, "yet at the end I could do nothing for you. But you will not
think badly of me for that.
"Now you are hurrying through eternity. To you, these few slow hours
before the dawn are no different from to-morrow or yesterday; they will
never pass.
"Do you see, at last, the meaning of the spectacle you have just
quitted? Do you understand what I, for all my wisdom, do not
understand? You are free to ask God to explain it to you; you can say,
'I saw armies with banners, and scholars with their books.' Perhaps he
will tell you the meaning of it. But for us, who remain, it has no
meaning.
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