434
WYLDER'S HAJVD.
"They say that little mannikin " — suddenly the Vi-
car stopped. "They say that little mannikin won't get
well."
"And am I always to be sick, here in my little bed,
Wapsie?" whispered little Fairy, in his dreamy, earnest
way, that was new to him.
"No, darling; not always sick: you'll be happier'than
ever — but not here; little man will be taken by his Sav-
iour, that loves him best of all — and he'll be in Heaven
— and only have a short time to wait, and may be his
poor Wapsie will come to him, please God, and his darling
mamma — and we'll all be happy together, for ever, and
never be sick or sorry any more, my treasure — my little
Fairy — my darling."
When in a little time, poor Dolly returned, her Willie
took her round the waist, as on the day when she accepted
him, and led her tenderly into the other room, and told
her all, and they hugged and wept together.
"Oh, Dolly, Dolly!"
"Oh, Willie, darling! — Oh, Willie, our precious
treasure — our only one !''
And so they walked up and down that room, his arm
round her waist, and in that sorrowful embrace, murmur-
ing amid their sobs to one another, their thoughts and re-
membrances of '' little man." How soon the treasure
grows a retrospect!
Then Dolly bethought her of her promise to Rachel.
"She made me promise to send for her if he was worse
«— she loved him so — everyone loved him — they could
not help — oh, Willie! our bright darling."
"I think, Dolly, we could not live here. I'd like to
go on some mission, and maybe come back in a great many
years — maybe, Dolly, when we are old. I'd like to see
the place again — and — and the walks — but not, I think,
for a long time. He was such a darling."