The silken curtains had waved a second time betwixt the dead face and the moonlight as another fair young girl unclosed the door and glided ghostlike to the bedside . There the two maidens stood , both beautiful , with the pale beauty of the dead between them . But she who had first entered was proud and stately , and the other a soft and fragile thing . `` Away ! '' cried the lofty one . `` Thou hadst him living ; the dead is mine . '' `` Thine ! '' returned the other , shuddering . `` Well hast thou spoken ; the dead is thine . '' The proud girl started and stared into her face with a ghastly look , but a wild-and mournful expression passed across the features of the gentle one , and , weak and helpless , she sank down on the bed , her head pillowed beside that of the corpse and her hair mingling with his dark locks . A creature of hope and joy , the first draught of sorrow had bewildered her . `` Edith ! '' cried her rival . Edith groaned as with a sudden compression of the heart , and , removing her cheek from the dead youth 's pillow , she stood upright , fearfully encountering the eyes of the lofty girl . `` Wilt thou betray me ? '' said the latter , calmly . `` Till the dead bid me speak I will be silent , '' answered Edith . `` Leave us alone together . Go and live many years , and then return and tell me of thy life . He too will be here .
Then , if thou tellest XXXXX sufferings more than death , we will both forgive thee . ''
Till across as beside betwixt hast into of to with