Was Elspeth now at peace? Was Death the Way‚ÅÝ‚Äîthe wide, dark Way? She had never thought of it before, and as she thought she crept forward and looked into the fearful face pityingly.
‚ÄúMammy!‚Äù she whispered‚ÅÝ‚Äîwith bated breath‚ÅÝ‚Äî‚ÄúMammy Elspeth!‚Äù Out of the night came a whispered answer: ‚Äú Elspeth! Elspeth! ‚Äù
Zora sprang to her feet, alert, fearful. With a swing of her arm, she pulled the great oaken door to and dropped the bar into its place. Over the dead she spread a clean white sheet. Into the fire she thrust pine-knots. They glared in vague red, and shadowy brilliance, waving and quivering and throwing up thin swirling columns of black smoke. Then standing beside the fireplace with the white, still corpse between her and the door, she took up her awful vigil.
There came a low knocking at the door; then silence and footsteps wandering furtively about. The night seemed all footsteps and whispers. There came a louder knocking, and a voice:
“ Elspeth! Elspeth! Open the door; it’s me. ”
Then muttering and wandering noises, and silence again.
The child on the bed turned itself, murmuring uneasily in its dreams. And then they came. Zora froze, watching the door, wide-eyed, while the fire flamed redder. A loud quick knock at the door‚ÅÝ‚Äîa pause‚ÅÝ‚Äîan oath and a cry.
“ Elspeth! Open this door, damn you! ”
A moment of waiting and then the knocking came again, furious and long continued. Outside there was much trampling and swearing. Zora did not move; the child slept on. A tugging and dragging, a dull blow that set the cabin quivering; then‚ÅÝ‚Äî