But instinctively Amy asked for milk, and that brought her round
better than anything else could have done. Still she lay like one dead,
seeming to care for nothing. She scarcely answered Hester when she
spoke, though she tried to smile to her: the most pitiful thing was that
smile Hester had ever seen. Her very brain and blood were haunted with
the presence of Corney's father. He seemed ever and always to be
standing over her and Corney with that terrible whip. All her thought
was how to get him away from the frightful place. Hester did her best to
reassure her. She told her Corney was fast asleep and little the worse;
did all she could to keep her quiet, and soothe her to sleep; and a
little after midnight was successful. Then she lay down herself on the
sofa beside her bed, sorely exhausted.
In the gray of the morning Mr. Raymount woke. He was aware of a great
hush about him. He looked from the window, and saw in the east the first
glimmer of a lovely spring-day. The stillness awed, almost frightened
him. It was not around him only but in him; his very soul seemed hushed,
as if in his sleep the Voice had said "Peace! be still!" He felt like a
naughty child, who, having slept, seems to have slept away his
naughtiness.
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