human
Dirk's child is dead, Uncle Richard, and they've just buried it. Oh! what a lonely place to be buried in! I would rather lie in the sea, it seems to me.
gpt
Hush, hush! don't talk about death, boy! What have you been up to that dreary little heap of graves for?
human
Partly to please Dirk,--partly because I wished, Uncle Richard. It's a dismal place! I'm glad enough to get back.
gpt
We shall both sleep there soon enough, said Trafford, who seemed to be in one of his gloomiest moods.
human
Why go there till we go for the last time?
gpt
Don't say such things! he said.
human
Perhaps we'll not live here always, Uncle Richard; and, if we do have to be buried up there in the sand, heaven is just as near, after all.
gpt
Yes, for you, Noll. But for me,--no, no!
human
Why, Uncle Richard?
gpt
Because--it is all dark,--dark! I have nothing, see nothing to hope for beyond.
human
Why won't you try to hope?
gpt
Hush! it's no use. Your Aunt Marguerite bade me follow after her long ago. I did not try. Your father said almost the same, Noll. Yet here I am,--I have not tried, I see no light, there is no hope for me.
human
When papa died, he did not fear at all, Uncle Richard. He said it was only the end of his journey, and that I was to follow on in the same way till I got to him at last. And papa said the truth, Uncle Richard.
gpt
Yes! he never said aught else, Noll,--never!
human
And, continued the boy, his face growing grave,
gpt
Ah! said Trafford, thoughtfully,
human
Papa, papa! If I might only see your face in this dreary place!
gpt
It was an evil day that separated us. God only knows what I might have been, had I always lived in the sunshine of his pure, warm heart. Why are you so silent, Noll?