“Come, children,” she said, taking a hand of each, “we will retrace our steps homeward.”  She stooped and kissed the child’s forehead, as she parted from him.  “Good-bye, Johnny,” she said cheerfully, “be a good boy, and try to remember all that I have told you.”

The child gave the required promise, and turned away, but came back a moment after: 

“Miss Graystone,” he said, standing before her, and raising his eyes fearlessly to hers, “don’t you think I have always tried to be good?”

“Yes, Johnny,” she answered truthfully, “I know that you do.  You are a real little hero, and your patience and fortitude have often set me an example, while I have grieved over the melancholy circumstances that have made you so old in sorrow.”

“Oh, thank you for that, dear, dearest Miss Graystone.”  The child was sobbing convulsively, so that Clemence became frightened for him.

“Why, my poor child, you must not grieve so.  I cannot bear to see you so unhappy,” she said, bending down to him, “try and smile for me once, dear.  Look now, at that cloud floating above you.  See how it breaks, revealing the blue sky beyond, and think what I told you of the cloud with the silver lining.  Don’t you remember it, Johnny?”

“Remember it? oh yes,” he said eagerly.  “I have never forgotten a word you have ever uttered.  I believe I shall think of them just before I die, and tell you about them in heaven.  Kiss me again, please, and then I will go.  I feel better now.”

Clemence drew the child again into a close embrace, and then, releasing him, waited at a turn in the winding path, until he was out of sight.

It was about the same hour, nearly a week after, that Clemence was walking alone, musing upon her own unhappy fate, when, startled by a rustling of the branches near her, she turned, to behold little Johnny Brier rushing hastily past, without looking to one side or the other, and following the path that opened upon the margin of the lake.

A strange fear took possession of Clemence.  She called several times, “Johnny!” authoritatively, but the child sped on, unheeding.  The girl grew faint and dizzy, and though she turned to follow in the direction in which he had gone, her limbs refused to support her, and she sank down, nearly in a state of insensibility.

Footsteps again aroused her, and she started up with a feeling of hope animating her to renewed effort.  A moment after, Mrs. Brier appeared upon the scene furious with rage, and flourishing in her right hand a large whip.

A look of guilty fear overspread her face, as she beheld Clemence’s agitation.

“Have you seen Johnny?” she asked, breathlessly, Clemence pointed, without a word, toward the water.  An awful look of terror leaped into the woman’s eyes, and she turned and rushed frantically away.

When the girl could gain strength, she went after her, and there, at the water’s edge, a crowd of people were collected, uttering ejaculations of horror over the lifeless remains of the child she had a few moments before beheld in all the agony of the wildest despair.