They know, if they don't do their part, the lash
will come down; and it don't come down easy."
I suppose I must have looked as if it had come down: on me.
Preston stopped talking and began to take care of me; putting
his arm round me to support my steps homeward. In the verandah
my aunt met us. She immediately decided that I was ill, and
ordered me to go to bed at once. It was the thing of all
others I would have wished to do. It saved me from the
exertion of trying to hold myself up and of speaking and
moving and answering questions. I went to bed in dull misery,
longing to go to sleep and forget all my troubles of mind and
body together; but while the body vested, the mind would not.
That kept the consciousness of its burden; and it was that,
more than any physical ail, which took away my power of
eating, and created instead a wretched sort of half nausea,
which made even rest unrefreshing. As for rest in my mind and
heart, it seemed at that time as if I should never know it
again. Never again! I was a child — I had but vague ideas
respecting even what troubled me; nevertheless I had been
struck, where may few children be struck! in the very core and
quick of my heart's reverence and affection.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122