44
by the child, she lay sleepless, as on so many nights,
and thought of her misery. And above all her
thoughts was the figure of her brother, heavy, dark,
with steady, deep-set eyes. Just such a picture she
had seen as a child when they used to tell her about
the prophets.
After a while she had to get up again and light
the candle because the child was restless and began
to cry ; she walked cautiously on her toes, so that
the boards should not creak, anxious to still the
noise, lest her brother should be wakened and re-
minded of the child. She took it in her arms,
rocked it and adjusted its little garments, and all
the time she was thinking of her brother. They
had to work, day in day out, to repair the wrong
that had been done, she knew that well, but some-
times she feared that all these sleepless nights were
too much for her strength. Except to go to church
on Sundays, she never went outside the house.
The youngest brother was the only one who
observed that she was growing pale and had red
eyes. One night he came in quietly and said :
c Let me walk up and down with the baby. Then
you can have some sleep.' She didn't want to let
him do it, and they disputed about it, but in whispers,
so that their brother in the adjoining room shouldn't
hear. They often talked in hushed tones, in the
passage, ot in the kitchen, without realising why it
was they spoke so quietly.