Cousin Martha knelt beside the chair and held Sallie's head on her ample
bosom, but I must say that the expression on her face was one of
bewilderment, as well as of grief.

The three little Horton cousins sat close together in the middle of the
old hair-cloth sofa by the window and were weeping as modestly and
helplessly as they did everything else in life, while Mrs. Hargrove, in
her chair under her son's portrait, was just plainly out and out
howling.

And on the hearth-rug, before the tiny fire of oak chips that the old
ladies liked to keep burning all summer, stood the master of the house
and, for once in my life, I have seen the personification of masculine
helplessness. He was a tragedy and I flew straight to him with arms wide
open, which clasped both his shoulders as I gave him a good shake to
arouse him from his paralyzation.

"What's the matter?" I demanded, with the second shake.

"I'm a brute, Evelina," he answered, and a sudden discouragement lined
every feature of his beautiful biblical face. I couldn't stand that and
I hugged him tight to my breast for an instant and then administered
another earthquake shake.

"Tell me exactly what has happened," I demanded, looking straight into
his tragic eyes and letting my hands slip from his shoulders down his
arms until they held both of his hands tight and warm in mine.

Jane, I was glad that I had offered the cup of my eyes to him full of