The events of the two last months--all the story which had come to her
since her mother's death-kept flitting like a series of pictures before
her vivid imagination. She saw Will's face with a tender light in the
eyes; she felt his breath on her cheek, and her hand seemed again to
be clasped in his. Once more she heard Hester and Will singing
together--
"I had a message to send her-
To be whom my soul loved best,
But I had my task to finish,
And she had gone home to rest."
Bet saw once more the little room in Sparrow Street, and the smile,
the look so full of satisfaction, on her dead mother's face.
"Oh, mother, mother!" she sobbed.
She fell on her knees, and the tears streamed through the fingers which
covered her face. "Oh mother! life ha' gone hard--bitter, bitter
hard--for poor Bet. I ha' broke my word to you--and the lads, I dunno
where they are. Oh, I'm good for nought--I'm good for nought--I wish
I were lying dead beside my mother!"
She sobbed and sobbed; and her tears, while they seemed to rend her
heart, brough a certain sense of lightness and relief.
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