"It must be done," he said, "and the sooner it's done the better; what
would I give to have my darlin' Kathleen here. Her eye and her advice
would give me the strength that I stand so much in need of. My God, how
will I meet him, or break the sorrowful tidings to him at all! The Lord
support me!"
"Ah, but Bryan," said they, "you know he looks up to whatever you say,
and how much he is advised by you, if there happens to be a doubt about
anything. Except her that's gone, there was no one--"
Bryan raised his hand with an expression of resolution and something
like despair, in order as well as he could to intimate to them, that he
wished to hear no allusion made to her whom they had lost, or that he
must become incapacitated to perform the task he had to encounter, and
taking his hat he proceeded to find his father, whom he met behind the
garden.
It may be observed of deep grief, that whenever it is excited by the
loss of what is good and virtuous, it is never a solitary passion, we
mean within the circle of domestic life. So far from that, there is not
a kindred affection under the influence of a virtuous heart, that is not
stimulated, and strengthened by its emotions. How often, for instance,
have two members of the same family rushed into each other's arms, when
struck by a common sense of the loss of some individual that was dear to
both, because it was felt that the very fact of loving the same object
had now made them dear to each other.
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