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Show Page 5 "I'm fine," I insisted, though I waswearied to the bone. "I want to be here when she wakes." So there I sat in the dimming light, praying that Aunt Mary would indeed awake. ******************** I scarce left Aunt Mary's side that night. Just ere dawn the wind stilled and the ship began to ride peacefully. Aunt Mary had been quiet for a time. Then she opened her eyes and looked at me as though through a thick mist. Her eyes glittered brilliantly, huge in her sunken face, but this time they knew me. "Sarah," she whispered, "how thoughtless of me to fall ill. Forgive me for leaving you." Thinking she was addled from the fever, I protested. "There is nothing to forgive. Listen. The storm has ended. Soon we will go up on deck again. We will all feel better with the touch of sea air upon our cheek." Aunt Mary waved aside my words of hope. Then she said the words that wrenched my heart upward in despair. "Sarah," she said, "I'm dying." She held up a hand to halt the protest she knew I would raise. Yet I sat mute, for no words would pass that huge beating lump of dismay at the base of my throat. "I have seen too much ship's fever in the last weeks to |