He looked, at her--the white angelic apparition--a smile, or a light upon the face.
'Oh, my darling, my young darling, gone--"He is not a man as I am, that I should answer him."' But poor Dan, loudly crying, repeated the noble words of Paul, that have spoken down to us through the sorrows of nigh two thousand years-- 'For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.' And so there was a little pause, and the old man said-- 'It was very good of you to come to me, my good young friend, in my helplessness and shipwreck, for the Lord hath hid himself from me; but he speaks to his desolate creature, my good Dan, through your gracious lips.

My faith!--I thought I had faith till it was brought to the test, and then it failed! But my good friend, Loftus, was sent to help me--to strengthen the feeble knees.' And Dan answered, crying bitterly, and clasping the rector's hand in both of his-- 'Oh, my master, all that ever I knew of good, I learned from you, my pastor, my benefactor.' So, with a long, last look, Dan followed the old man to the study, and they talked long there together, and then went out into the lonely garden, and paced its walks side by side, up and down..