244 THE DREAMER'S MISSION. 



and breathes of pestilence, — my brain is fevered, my pulse 

 fails, my heart sinks with vague fear. I would fain meet death 

 with a calm spirit and an unblenching brow. I ask not for 

 prolonged life, but I would not fall like a beast of burden by 

 the way-side. Let me not sink beneath the weariness which 

 now oppresses me. Let me not die in the summer !" 



It was sad to see one clinging to earth so fondly while exist- 

 ence was gliding away like the silent flow of a rapid river. 

 But beautiful was the ministry of the proud and brilliant Katha- 

 rine, as forgetting self with all its heretofore engrossing pur- 

 suits, she bent in lowly meekness before the new revelations 

 of spiritual existence which dawned upon her in her search for 

 that which might solace the heart of the dying youth. Once 

 the joys of sentient life had satisfied her glad nature, but 

 now she looked into deeper and nobler things. She watched 

 no longer the fluctuations of the tiny waves of time ; for a 

 new power was given her to look into the mighty depths of 

 eternity. Her cousin's dread of death shocked and terrified 

 her. She sought for consoling images with which to adorn 

 the tomb, and in searching for flowers to wreath around the 

 funeral bier, she found the tree of life which is " for the healing 

 of the nations." 



But the days passed on, and summer's glow had deepened and 

 brightened into autumn's glory. The gorgeous beauty of the 

 many-tinted woods, the rich drapery of the fields, with their 

 latest blossoms, the fruits blushing on every bough, the deep 

 blue expanse of the autumnal sky, — all were beautiful, — all 



