Part 40 (1/2)
Frank looked up with so like it sh”
Frank drew a long breath ”We got sick there, and Potts had us taken to the alms-house There we all prayed for death, but only my father's prayer was heard He died of a broken heart The rest of us lived on
”Scarcely had my father been buried when Potts came to take us away He insisted that we should leave the country, and offered to pay our way to Arief The al to, so we let ourselves drift, and allowed Potts to send us wherever he wished We did not even hope for any thing better We only hoped that soht all die What else could we do? What else could I do? There was no friend to who, it was that A till death came
”So we allowed ourselves to be sent wherever Potts chose, since it could not possibly s worse than they were He availed hiers in the steerage on board of a crowded eave us for our provisions some mouldy bread
”We si for death, till one day an angel appeared who gave us a short respite, and saved us for a while frohetti
”You look a that he should be on board the same shi+p with us He was in the cabin He noticed our ive us pity and help us When at last he found out our names he fell on our necks, kissed us, and wept aloud
”He gave up his room in the cabin to my mother and sister, and slept and lived with me Most of all he cheered us by the lofty, spiritual words hich he bade us look with contempt upon the troubles of life and aspire after iave us peace
”There were six hundred passengers The plague broke out a us The deaths every day increased, and all were filled with despair At last the sailors thean to die
”I believe there was only one in all that shi+p who preserved cal those aeeks That one was Langhetti
He found the officers of the shi+p panic-stricken, so he took charge of the steerage, organized nurses, watched over every thing, encouraged every body, and labored night and day In the midst of all I fell sick, and he nursed me back to life Most of all, that man inspired fortitude by the hope that beamed in his eyes, and by the radiancy of his sht doooes on You will leave this pest-shi+p for a realht Keep up your heart, my brother immortal, and praise God with your latest breath'
”I recovered, and then stood by his side as best I ht I found that he had never told my mother of my sickness At last my mother and sister in the cabin fell sick I heard of it sorew better after a tihetti, who had kept hiave out coue”
”Did he die?” asked Louis, in a faltering voice
”Not on shi+p-board He was carried ashore senseless My mother and sister were very low, and were also carried on shore I, though weak, was able to nurse the pause At last Frank resuh grief and fatigue, I fell sick for the third ti on My sister nursedto die 'Oh, Edith,' I said, 'when I die, devote your life while it lasts to Langhetti, whoive up your own'
”After that I beca tiue was stayed, and but few sick were on the island My case was a lingering one, for this was the third attack of the fever Why I didn't die I can't understand There was no attendance All was confusion, horror, and death
”When I revived the first question was after Langhetti and Edith No one knew any thing about them In the confusion we had been separated, and Edith had died alone”
”Who told you that she died?” asked Louis, with a troubled look
Frank looked at hi to say?”
”Yes”
”When I was able to move about I went to see if any one could tell hetti I heard an awful story; that the superintendent had gonethat some one was _buried alive_ Who do you think? oh, my brother!”
”Speak!”
”Edith Brandon was the name he named”