` This one suits you better now ' ; and glad to please him by her interest , Bess read in her soft voice : ' `` Healfast , healfast , ye hero wounds ; O knight , be quickly strong ! Beloved strife For fame and life , Oh , tarry not too long ! '' ' ` I 'm no hero , never can be , and `` fame and life '' ca n't do much for me . Never mind , read me that paper , please . This knock on the head has made a regular fool of me . ' Dan 's voice was gentle ; but the light was gone out of his face now , and he moved restlessly as if the silken pillows were full of thorns . Seeing that his mood had changed , Bess quietly put down the book , took up the paper , and glanced along the columns for something to suit him . ` You do n't care for the money market , I know , nor musical news . Here 's a murder ; you used to like those ; shall I read it ? One man kills another -- , ' ` No ! ' Only a word , but it gave Mrs Jo a thrill , and for a moment she dared not glance at the tell-tale mirror . When she did Dan lay motionless with one hand over his eyes , and Bess was happily reading the art news to ears that never heard a word . Feeling like a thief who has stolen something very precious , Mrs Jo slipped away to her study , and before long Bess followed to report that Dan was fast asleep . Sending her home , with the firm resolve to keep her there as much as possible , Mother Bhaer had an hour of serious thought all alone in the red sunset ; and when a sound in the next room led her there , she found that the feigned sleep had become real repose ; for Dan lay breathing heavily , with a scarlet spot on either cheek , and one hand clinched on his broad breast . Yearning over him with a deeper pity than ever before , she sat in the little chair beside him , trying to see her way out of this tangle , till his hand slipped down , and in doing so snapped a cord he wore about his neck and let a small case drop to the floor . Mrs Jo picked it up , and as he did not wake , sat looking at it , idly wondering what charm it held ; for the case was of Indian workmanship and the broken cord , of closely woven grass , sweet scented and pale yellow . ' I wo n't pry into any more of the poor fellow 's secrets . I 'll mend and put it back , and never let him know I 've seen his talisman . ' As she spoke she turned the little wallet to examine the fracture , and a card fell into her lap . It was a photograph , cut to fit its covering , and two words were written underneath the face , ` My Aslauga ' .
For an instant Mrs Jo fancied that it might be one of herself , for all the boys had them ; but as the thin paper fell away , she saw the picture Demi took of XXXXX that happy summer day .
Aslauga Bess Bhaer Dan Healfast Indian Jo hour murder talisman