she sobbed . `` I miss you so -- I miss you so ! It ca n't ever seem like Christmas to me without you . You were always so sweet and kind to me . There ai n't a day passes but I think of you and all the things you used to say to me , and I try to be good like you 'd want me to be . But I hate them for forgetting you -- yes , I do ! I 'll never forget you , darling Miss Avis ! I 'd rather be here alone with you in the dark than back there with them . '' Nanny sat down by the grave . The old dog lay down by her side with his forepaws on the turf and his eyes fixed on the tall white marble shaft . It was too dark for Nanny to read the inscription but she knew every word of it : `` In loving remembrance of Avis Maywood , died January 20 , 1902 , aged 45 . '' And underneath the lines of her own choosing : `` Say not good night , but in some brighter clime Bid me good morning . '' But they had forgotten her -- oh , they had forgotten her already ! When half an hour had passed , Nanny was startled by approaching footsteps . Not wishing to be seen , she crept softly behind the headstones into the shadow of the willow on the farther side , and the old dog followed . Doctor Fritz , coming to the grave , thought himself alone with the dead . He knelt down by the headstone and pressed his face against it . `` Avis , '' he said gently , `` dear Avis , I have come to visit your grave tonight because you seem nearer to me here than elsewhere . And I want to talk to you , Avis , as I have always talked to you every Christmastide since we were children together . I have missed you so tonight , dear friend and sympathizer -- no words can tell how I have missed you -- your welcoming handclasp and your sweet face in the firelight shadows .
I could not bear to speak your name , the aching sense XXXXX loss was so bitter .
because behind by for in into of than to underneath