He could not master one. He felt himself being beaten to the
ground. He made agonizing efforts to retain control over the surging
wave of anguish, rising, rising, rising from his breast to his brain.
And failing to do so, he fell with the mighty cry of one who, even in
the death agony, protests against the victor.
The news spread as if all the birds in the air carried it. There were a
dozen physicians in Seat-Sandal before noon. There was a crowd of
shepherds around it, waiting in silent groups for their verdict. All the
afternoon the gentlemen of the Dales were coming and going with offers
of help and sympathy; and in the lonely parlor the rector was softly
pacing up and down, muttering, as he walked, passages from the "Order
for the Visitation of the Sick":--
"O Saviour of the world, who by thy cross and precious blood hast
redeemed us, save us, and help us, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord.
"Spare us good Lord. Spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy
most precious blood.
"Shut not up thy tender mercies in displeasure; but make him to hear of
joy and gladness.
"Deliver him from the fear of the enemy. Lift up the light of thy
countenance upon him. Amen."
CHAPTER IX.
ESAU.
"To be weak is miserable,
Doing or suffering."
"Now conscience wakes despair
That slumberd; wakes the bitter memory
Of what he was, what is, and what must be.
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