no more tears for little violet. yes, that was the joy which almost stilled their sorrow. how could they weep as they looked at that smile of perfect peace—that wonderful smile, fixed now in death, which had lightened up all her face as she cried out to fritz with her parting breath, "fritz, see!—it is all true—violet has wings"?
aunt lizzie sat all day beside the little bed—yes, and all night too. she was never tired looking at the sweet pale face, so restful in its sleep; and though tears flowed constantly down her cheeks, her heart was ever busy thanking god, who had so mercifully called home his little suffering lamb before the last sad news had reached her of her father's death.
she was with them now, that was enough for her to know, and for evermore all would be peace. the little mother so long sighed for, the father who had so tenderly shielded his darling from trouble, and had[pg 284] watched over her in her loneliness—yes, they were all united now, and she knew that violet was beyond the reach of trouble. for her and for them sorrow and sighing had fled away, and in their place had come the everlasting rest and happiness of heaven. no wonder that aunt lizzie rose up sometimes suddenly and kissed the sweet face with a passionate thrill of joy, nay, almost of envy.
the neighbours streamed in all day long; indeed it seemed to aunt lizzie that the whole town of edelsheim came to see the little face lying in such a sweet stillness on the pillow.
beautiful white flowers were laid upon the counterpane, and the air of the room was almost oppressive with the scent of the violets which were brought as a last offering, as a last tribute of love to their own violet, the sweet flower of edelsheim, whose face had ever looked out upon them from the many-sided window overhanging the street, with the patient smile so familiar to their eyes.
in the evening, when all the rest were gone, fritz stole in, leading ella by the hand. kate had just placed the lamp on the table, and aunt lizzie had risen up to draw the curtains; but he looked at neither of them, only walked over straight to the bedside, and stood there gazing at his little [pg 285]companion's face with an intense and speechless sorrow. but with ella it was different. she gave one glance at the figure so unfamiliar in its stillness, and then fled with a cry to aunt lizzie, burying her face in her dress and sobbing violently.
aunt lizzie drew the little girl into the inner room to comfort her; kate hobbled down the stairs sobbing as she went; and fritz was left alone, still standing gazing with a bursting heart at the smile which was not for him.
for a moment he lifted his eyes and looked round the room nervously, and then he stooped and kissed her forehead. "violet," he said softly, and waited, childlike, for an answer; but the lips did not move in response, only to his eyes, dazzled as they were with resisted tears, the smile seemed to widen at his call.
"violet, hist! fritz knows now that thou hast wings. violet, fritz loves thee; and, listen, violet, fritz will always, always remember thee; and he will always love god, too, and the good lord jesus." two immense tears fell upon violet's face; and then fritz, drawing nearer, knelt down by the side of the little bed and covered his face reverently with his hands.
when aunt lizzie returned to the room fritz was gone, but the tears which the boy had shed still glimmered faintly on the quiet face.
[pg 286]
that evening, too, the old policeman came to take his last look. he stood with uncovered head by the bedside, and uttered not a word. the face seemed to have a strange attraction for him, for he gazed at it without moving for many minutes. he, too, kissed his little friend ere he walked away, and laid in the cold clasped hands a bunch of blue forget-me-nots. but at the door he paused, and looking at aunt lizzie he asked, with an eye which for the moment burned with a suppressed anger, "where is the girl?"
"dost thou mean evelina?"
"yes, certainly."
"ah, she has returned to gützberg; she left here the very evening of the accident. she feared, i think, to meet the face of any one who knew and loved our darling."
"ah, she did well," he said bitterly. "god, who forgives all sin, may pardon her. he can be merciful as well as just. but we of edelsheim, never!"
the next morning the carriage, made with such care by poor faithful john, was lifted out from its corner in the room and carried down into the street; and there they laid upon it the little white coffin which held the body of violet.
[pg 287]
the descent to the little church-yard near the fountain was densely packed with mourners, and with difficulty the old policeman, assisted by fritz, drew it through the weeping crowd. behind it walked a company of children dressed in the same white robes with the same white wings which they had worn on the day of the procession; and now, as the little carriage moved on, their lips opened, and there burst forth the same song of the angels welcoming the weary soul to heaven which had startled violet from her reverie only a few short days before and had called her from her loneliness and her fear to everlasting life.
thus her wish was fulfilled, that her first drive in the carriage made for her by her father should be to the place where her mother had been buried; and there they laid down the poor tired lamb at last, to sleep on its mother's breast. the people, gathered round the grave, sobbed and wept; the angels lifted up their voices with the same sweet but mournful cry; the policeman folded his arms on his breast, grim and stern, while his sword clinked against the gravel. but it was left for fritz to know the whole grand truth. standing there unconscious of all and everything around him, with eyes uplifted to heaven he saw her as she was.
[pg 288]
white-winged, rejoicing, exulting in her new-found strength, poised in the air above his head, radiant in robes of dazzling whiteness, he saw again that small white face break into a smile of rapture; and he heard a voice say, "fritz, 'no more tears;' violet has wings." and then some one cried out, "look at the boy! he is white as death, he is fainting;" and so they lifted him into the church and laid him on the ground, and aunt lizzie placed his head upon her knee.
and by-and-by the crowd dispersed, and those who lingered laid wreaths upon the grave; and some knelt down and kissed the earth above their little violet's sleeping-place.
* * * * *
it is now many a long year since little violet escaped out of her cage and mounted up like a bird to heaven, and yet she is remembered as lovingly as ever by the people of edelsheim. if you turn aside into the little church-yard at the foot of the hill, you will see the monument that they have erected with much love and care to her memory. and perhaps you may meet there a woman who comes often to weep at her grave and to pray, but from whom the townspeople still turn away with aversion. she is never tired looking at the white face carved so faithfully[pg 289] and beautifully in marble, nor at the outstretched pinions which, spreading across the arms of the cross, support the cherub's head.
there is no epitaph to tell of their darling's pure life, nor of her sad death; only three words, and yet they embrace all—"violet has wings."
it was fritz who chose them. but to comfort the hearts of all those in edelsheim who had loved her so well, the sculptor added at the base of the monument a bunch of fading violets, and beneath them he carved these words of hope and consolation—"auf wiedersehen" (to meet again).
