But the unhappy mother was not thus to be consoled . She shook like a leaf ; she turned white as the very snow that hung drifted into her hair . The firm old man extended his hand and held her up , keeping his eye upon hers as if to repress any outbreak of passion . `` I am a woman -- I am but a woman ; will He try me above my strength ? '' said Catharine , very quickly and almost in a whisper . `` I have been wounded sore ; I have suffered much -- many things in the body , many in the mind ; crucified in myself and in them that were dearest to me . Surely , '' added she , with a long shudder , `` he hath spared me in this one thing . '' She broke forth with sudden and irrepressible violence : `` Tell me , man of cold heart , what has God done to me ? Hath he cast me down never to rise again ? Hath he crushed my very heart in his hand ? -- And thou to whom I committed my child , how hast thou fulfilled thy trust ? Give me back the boy well , sound , alive -- alive -- or earth and heaven shall avenge me ! '' The agonized shriek of Catharine was answered by the faint -- the very faint -- voice of a child . On this day it had become evident to Pearson , to his aged guest and to Dorothy that Ilbrahim 's brief and troubled pilgrimage drew near its close . The two former would willingly have remained by him to make use of the prayers and pious discourses which they deemed appropriate to the time , and which , if they be impotent as to the departing traveller 's reception in the world whither he goes , may at least sustain him in bidding adieu to earth . But , though Ilbrahim uttered no complaint , he was disturbed by the faces that looked upon him ; so that Dorothy 's entreaties and their own conviction that the child 's feet might tread heaven 's pavement and not soil it had induced the two Quakers to remove . Ilbrahim then closed his eyes and grew calm , and , except for now and then a kind and low word to his nurse , might have been thought to slumber . As nightfall came on , however , and the storm began to rise , something seemed to trouble the repose of the boy 's mind and to render his sense of hearing active and acute . If a passing wind lingered to shake the casement , he strove to turn his head toward it ; if the door jarred to and fro upon its hinges , he looked long and anxiously thitherward ; if the heavy voice of the old man as he read the Scriptures rose but a little higher , the child almost held his dying-breath to listen ; if a snowdrift swept by the cottage with a sound like the trailing of a garment , Ilbrahim seemed to watch that some visitant should enter . But after a little time he relinquished whatever secret hope had agitated him and with one low complaining whisper turned his cheek upon the pillow .
He then addressed Dorothy XXXXX his usual sweetness and besought her to draw near him ; she did so , and Ilbrahim took her hand in both of his , grasping it with a gentle pressure , as if to assure himself that he retained it .
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