What other paper is it you are unfolding?"
"'Tis a letter from Nina to you. Can you hear it now?"
"Yes, but tell me first all you know. Don't withhold a single
thing. I would hear the whole."
So Victor told him what he knew up to the time of their going to
Florida; and then, opening Nina's letter, he began to read,
pausing, occasionally, to ask if he should stop.
"No, no; go on!" Richard whispered, hoarsely, his head dropping
lower and lower, until the face was hidden from view and the chin
rested upon the chest, which heaved with every labored breath.
Once at the words, "When you hear this Nina'll be there with you.
She'll sit upon your knee and wind her arms around your neck"--he
started, and seemed to be thrusting something from his lap--
something which made him shiver. Was it Nina? He thought so, and
strove to push her off but when Victor read, "She will comfort you
when the great cry comes in--the crash like the breaking up of the
ice in the Northern ponds," he ceased to struggle, and Victor
involuntarily stopped when he saw the long arms twine themselves
as it were around an invisible form.
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