Very lonely and
desolate seemed the house when the funeral train returned to it,
and the lamentations of the blacks broke out afresh as they began
to realize that their young mistress was really gone, and
henceforth another must fill her place. Would it be Arthur or
would it be the queenly Edith, whose regal beauty had captivated
all their hearts? Assembled in the kitchen they discussed this
question, giving to neither the preference, for though they had
tried Arthur and found him a kind and humane master, they felt
that after Nina, Edith had the right. Then, as other than blacks
will do, they speculated upon the future, wondering why both
Arthur and Edith could not rule jointly over them; they would like
that vastly, and had nearly decided that it would be, when Victor,
who was with them, tore down their castle by telling them that
Edith was already engaged to some one else. This changed the
channel of conversation, and Victor left them wondering still what
the future would bring.
Slowly the evening passed, in kitchen and in parlor and only those
who have felt it can tell the unspeakable loneliness of that first
evening after the burial of the dead.
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