“Then I die happy,” said Mrs. Wentworth, and turning to her husband she said with difficulty, “Farewell, my husband.  Amid all my trials and sufferings my love for you has ever been as true and pure as the hour we married.  To die in your arms, with my head on your bosom was all I wished, and my desire is gratified.  Farewell.”

Before her husband could reply her reason had vanished, and she remained oblivious to all around her.  Her eyes were closed, and the moving of her lips alone told that she yet lived.

“Eva! darling!  Wife!” exclaimed Alfred passionately “Speak to me! oh my angel wife, speak one word to me ere you die.  Look at me! say that you recognize me.  Awake to consciousness, and let me hear the sound of your voice once more.  Wake up my wife” he continued wildly, “Oh for another word—­one look before you are no more.”

His wild and passionate words reached the ear of the dying woman, and her voice came again, but it was the dying flicker of the expiring lamp.  She slowly opened her eyes and looked up in the face of her husband.

“Alfred—­husband, happiness” she murmured softly, then gently drawing down his head, her lips touched his for an instant, and the soldier’s wife embraced her husband for the last time on earth.

Releasing his head Mrs. Wentworth kept her eyes fixed upon those of her husband.  Their glances met and told their tale of deep and unutterable affection.  The look they gave each other pierced their souls, and lit up each heart with the fires of love.  Thus they continued for several minutes, when Mrs. Wentworth, rising on her elbow, looked for a moment on the grief struck group around her bed.

“Farewell,” she murmured, and then gazing at her husband, her lips moved, but her words could not be heard.

Stooping his ear to her lips, Alfred caught their import, and the tears coursed down his cheek.

The words were, “My husband I die happy in your arms.”

As if an Almighty power had occasioned the metamorphosis, the countenance of the dying woman rapidly changed, and her features bore the same appearance they had in years gone by.  A smile lingered round her lips, and over her face was a beautiful and saint-like expression.  The husband gazed upon it, and her resemblance to what she was in days of yore, flashed across his mind with the rapidity of lightning.  But the change did not last long, for soon she closed her eyes and loosened her grasp on her husband’s neck, while her features resumed their wan and cheerless expression.  Nothing but the smile remained, and that looked heavenly.  Alfred still supported her; he thought she was asleep.

“She is now in heaven,” said Doctor Humphries solemnly.