CHAPTER XXVIII 420
" But he is in a better place ," continued Hannah : " we shouldn ' t wish him here again . And then , nobody need to have a quieter death nor he had ."
" You say he never mentioned us ?" inquired one of the ladies .
" He hadn ' t time , bairn : he was gone in a minute , was your father . He had been a bit ailing like the day before , but naught to signify ; and when Mr . St . John asked if he would like either o ' ye to be sent for , he fair laughed at him . He began again with a bit of a heaviness in his head the next day -- that is , a fortnight sin ' -- and he went to sleep and niver wakened : he wor a ' most stark when your brother went into t ' chamber and fand him . Ah , childer ! that ' s t ' last o ' t ' old stock -- for ye and Mr . St . John is like of different soart to them ' at ' s gone ; for all your mother wor mich i ' your way , and a ' most as book-learned . She wor the pictur ' o ' ye , Mary : Diana is more like your father ."
I thought them so similar I could not tell where the old servant ( for such I now concluded her to be ) saw the difference . Both were fair complexioned and slenderly made ; both possessed faces full of distinction and intelligence . One , to be sure , had hair a shade darker than the other , and there was a difference in their style of wearing it ; Mary ' s pale brown locks were parted and braided smooth : Diana ' s duskier tresses covered her neck with thick curls . The clock struck ten .
" Ye ' ll want your supper , I am sure ," observed Hannah ; " and so will Mr . St . John when he comes in ."
And she proceeded to prepare the meal . The ladies rose ; they seemed about to withdraw to the parlour . Till this moment , I had been so intent on watching them , their appearance and conversation had excited in me so keen an interest , I had half-forgotten my own wretched position : now it recurred to me . More desolate , more desperate than ever , it seemed from contrast . And how impossible did it appear to touch the inmates of this house with concern on my behalf ; to make them believe in the truth of my wants and woes -- to induce them to vouchsafe a rest for my wanderings ! As I groped out the door , and knocked at it hesitatingly , I felt that last idea