Part 16 (1/2)
”Not angry? Hark. Did you not hear a sound?”
”Yes, I hear the wild ostriches booming in the valley.”
”Close the window and come away, child; the darkness is full of horror.
You are right not to go to bed. I could not sleep to-night.”
”Why do you fear the open window, Aunt?”
”The night is dark.” She shuddered and crouched into the corner of the sofa.
”The day is ever dark to me, yet I fear not.”
”Last night the dogs howled and I saw white shapes flitting among the trees where the graves are.”
”What of that? Shapes often flit about me; I call them and they are here; I bid them depart and they are gone.”
”Child,--you are blind and thus cannot understand.--Hark.--Is not that a sound of shouting, afar off?”
”It is but the jackals howling on the hill-side.--The time has not yet come.--But, Aunt,--let me tell you farther of the things I know.”
”Not to-night,--I am in terror enough as it is.”
”What I have to tell you will not terrify you, for you are guiltless.”
”Guiltless,--yes; but G.o.d visits the sins of the guilty upon the guiltless. But it is not for myself that I fear.”
”One of the things which I see with clearness is that there is no reason for your terror.”
Aletta bowed her head forward on her hands. The candle had almost burnt out; only a faint, uncertain flicker arose out of the socket. She started, and lifted her head:
”Listen,--that is surely a sound.”
”Yes,--the springbucks came over the mountain last week; you hear the bellowing of the rams on the upland ledge and the clas.h.i.+ng of their horns as they fight--But I can hear that my father draws nearer.”
”If he be not coming in anger, why does he hasten thus? But you cannot hear him; the sound is in your own ears.”
”May not one hasten in love as well as in hate? The wagon has now reached the rocky pa.s.s between the kopjes. It will soon be here.”
Aletta arose and walked over to the window. She linked her arm in that of Elsie and tried to draw the blind girl away from her post.
”Come to bed,--I am not so terrified as I was a while ago.”
”Hark.--Even the ears of one who is not blind can hear that.”
A light breeze was streaming up the valley, driving the mist before it in broken ma.s.ses. From the rough, stony pa.s.s could be heard the heavy thumpings of the ma.s.sive wheels. Aletta once more sank to her knees in agony.
”Oh G.o.d,--you have brought him here.--Oh G.o.d,--soften his heart--”
”Aunt,--G.o.d heard your prayer long before you spoke it. His heart has been softened.”