Only Nina had any reason then or judgment. Hastening to Edith she
knelt beside her, and lifting up her head pillowed it upon her
lap, wiping from her temple the drops of blood slowly trickling
from a cut, made by a sharp stone.
"Miggie, Miggie," she cried, "wake up. You scare me, you look so
white and stiff. Please open your eyes, darling, just a little
ways, so Nina'll know that you ain't dead. Oh, Arthur, she is
DEAD!" and Nina shrieked aloud, when, opening herself the lids,
she saw the dull, fixed expression of the glassy eye.
Laying her back upon the grass, she crept to Arthur's side, and
tried to rouse him, saying imploringly, "Miggie's dead, Arthur;
Miggie's dead. There is blood all over her face. It's on me, too,
look," and she held before him her fingers, covered with a crimson
stain. Even this did not move him; he only kissed the tiny hand
wet with Edith's blood, and whispered to her, "Richard."
It was enough. Nina comprehended his meaning at once; and when
next he looked about him she was flying like a deer across the
fields to Collingwood, leaving him alone with Edith.
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