mournfully. "I have just left there. Poor child! she has passed from an evil world."
"Evil it has indeed been to her," was remarked.
"You may well say that. And yet, amid all the evil, she has been an angel of mercy. Her last thought in dying was of her miserable father. For him, at any time, she would have laid down her life willingly."
"Her mother must be nearly broken-hearted. Mary is the last of her children."
"And yet the child's death may prove a blessing to her."
"How so?"
"Her father promised Mary, just at the last moment—solemnly promised her—that, henceforth, he would never taste liquor. That was all her trouble. That was the thorn in her dying pillow. But he plucked it out, and she went to sleep, lying against his heart. Oh, gentlemen! it was the most touching sight I ever saw."
