Laurie was signing and sealing as he spoke, and did not look up till a great tear dropped on the paper.  Amy’s face was full of trouble, but she only said, “Don’t people put sort of postscripts to their wills, sometimes?”

“Yes, ‘codicils’, they call them.”

“Put one in mine then, that I wish all my curls cut off, and given round to my friends.  I forgot it, but I want it done though it will spoil my looks.”

Laurie added it, smiling at Amy’s last and greatest sacrifice.  Then he amused her for an hour, and was much interested in all her trials.  But when he came to go, Amy held him back to whisper with trembling lips, “Is there really any danger about Beth?”

“I’m afraid there is, but we must hope for the best, so don’t cry, dear.”  And Laurie put his arm about her with a brotherly gesture which was very comforting.

When he had gone, she went to her little chapel, and sitting in the twilight, prayed for Beth, with streaming tears and an aching heart, feeling that a million turquoise rings would not console her for the loss of her gentle little sister.

CHAPTER TWENTY

CONFIDENTIAL

I don’t think I have any words in which to tell the meeting of the mother and daughters.  Such hours are beautiful to live, but very hard to describe, so I will leave it to the imagination of my readers, merely saying that the house was full of genuine happiness, and that Meg’s tender hope was realized, for when Beth woke from that long, healing sleep, the first objects on which her eyes fell were the little rose and Mother’s face.  Too weak to wonder at anything, she only smiled and nestled close in the loving arms about her, feeling that the hungry longing was satisfied at last.  Then she slept again, and the girls waited upon their mother, for she would not unclasp the thin hand which clung to hers even in sleep.

Hannah had ‘dished up’ an astonishing breakfast for the traveler, finding it impossible to vent her excitement in any other way, and Meg and Jo fed their mother like dutiful young storks, while they listened to her whispered account of Father’s state, Mr. Brooke’s promise to stay and nurse him, the delays which the storm occasioned on the homeward journey, and the unspeakable comfort Laurie’s hopeful face had given her when she arrived, worn out with fatigue, anxiety, and cold.

What a strange yet pleasant day that was.  So brilliant and gay without, for all the world seemed abroad to welcome the first snow.  So quiet and reposeful within, for everyone slept, spent with watching, and a Sabbath stillness reigned through the house, while nodding Hannah mounted guard at the door.  With a blissful sense of burdens lifted off, Meg and Jo closed their weary eyes, and lay at rest, like storm-beaten boats safe at anchor in a quiet harbor.  Mrs. March would not leave Beth’s side, but rested in the big chair, waking often to look at, touch, and brood over her child, like a miser over some recovered treasure.