If 'twas not Death, laddie dear, that stood by ye, it was the shadow o' Death that made the darkness round ye, that neither the light o' candles nor the smoke o' heathen incense could pierce.

Oh, laddie, laddie, wae is me that I hae seen sic a veesion--waking or sleeping, it matters not! I was sair distressed--so sair that I woke wi' a shriek on my lips and bathed in cold sweat.

I would hae come doon to ye to see if you were hearty or no--or even to listen at your door for any sound o' yer being quick, but that I feared to alarm ye till morn should come.

I've counted the hours and the minutes since midnight, when I saw the veesion, till I came hither just the now." "Quite right, Aunt Janet," I said, "and I thank you for your kind thought for me in the matter, now and always." Then I went on, for I wanted to take precautions against the possibility of her discovery of my secret.
I could not bear to think that she might run my precious secret to earth in any well-meant piece of bungling.

That would be to me disaster unbearable.