The mind of the good mother seemed to be now at rest, and
sinking back without another word her spirit passed quietly away
that day.
The bereaved father and daughter were wild with grief, and they
abandoned themselves to their bitter sorrow. They felt it to be
impossible to take leave of the loved woman who till now had filled
their whole lives and to commit her body to the earth. But this
frantic burst of grief passed, and then they took possession of
their own hearts again, crushed though they were in resignation. In
spite of this the daughter's life seemed to her desolate. Her love
for her dead mother did not grow less with time, and so keen was
her remembrance, that everything in daily life, even the falling of
the rain and the blowing of the wind, reminded her of her mothe
