Mrs. Clow came with a glass of milk , Faith and Jerry and Carl sneaked off to the pantry , and John Meredith went into his study , where he sat in the darkness for a long time , alone with his bitter thoughts . So his children were bringing themselves up because there was `` nobody to do it '' -- struggling along amid their little perplexities without a hand to guide or a voice to counsel . Faith 's innocently uttered phrase rankled in her father 's mind like a barbed shaft . There was `` nobody '' to look after them -- to comfort their little souls and care for their little bodies . How frail Una had looked , lying there on the vestry sofa in that long faint ! How thin were her tiny hands , how pallid her little face ! She looked as if she might slip away from him in a breath -- sweet little Una , of whom Cecilia had begged him to take such special care . Since his wife 's death he had not felt such an agony of dread as when he had hung over his little girl in her unconsciousness . He must do something -- but what ? Should he ask Elizabeth Kirk to marry him ? She was a good woman -- she would be kind to his children . He might bring himself to do it if it were not for his love for Rosemary West . But until he had crushed that out he could not seek another woman in marriage . And he could not crush it out -- he had tried and he could not . Rosemary had been in church that evening , for the first time since her return from Kingsport . He had caught a glimpse of her face in the back of the crowded church , just as he had finished his sermon . His heart had given a fierce throb . He sat while the choir sang the `` collection piece , '' with his bent head and tingling pulses . He had not seen her since the evening upon which he had asked her to marry him . When he had risen to give out the hymn his hands were trembling and his pale face was flushed .
Then Una 's fainting spell had banished everything XXXXX his mind for a time .
So from if like of since to until upon with