"`A lump of flesh with na vital
spark in it,'" he kept repeating. "I dinna but that is the secret.
She is almost numb with misery. All these days when she's been
without hope, and these awful nichts, when she's watched and feared
alone, she has no wished to perpetuate him in children who might be
like him, and so at their coming the `vital spark' is na in them.
Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy, have ye Mary's happiness and those three little
graves to answer for?"
He found Jimmy asleep where he had left him. Dannie shook him
awake. "I want to talk with ye," he said.
Jimmy sat up, and looked into Dannie's face. He had a complaint on
his lips but it died there. He tried to apologize. "I am almost
dead for sleep," he said. "There has been no rest for anyone here.
What do you think?"
"I think she will live," said Dannie dryly. "In spite of your neglect,
and my cowardice, I think she will live to suffer more frae us."
Jimmy's mouth opened, but for once no sound issued. The drops of
perspiration raised on his forehead.
Dannie sat down, and staring at him Jimmy saw that there were
patches of white hair at his temples that had been brown a week
before; his colorless face was sunken almost to the bone, and there
was a peculiar twist about his mouth. Jimmy's heart weighed heavily,
his tongue stood still, and he was afraid to the marrow in his bones.
"I think she will live," repeated Dannie. "And about the suffering more,
we will face that like men, and see what can be done about it.
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