"I _do_ think thereon in the dark hour; ay, thereon and thereupon
again; and death is also beautiful, and the parting in Christ,"
murmured to himself the old man, as he tried to take Gottreich's hand,
which he had not strength to press. It was but the usual nervous
snatching of the fingers of the dying. He continued to think that his
son was still speaking to him, and said, more and more distinctly and
emphatically, "O thou blessed God!" until all the other luminaries of
life were extinguished, and in his soul there stood nothing but the one
sun,--God!
At length he raised himself, and, stretching out his arm forcibly,
exclaimed: "There are three fair rainbows over the evening sun; I must
go after the sun, and pass through with him!" He then fell back, and
all was over.
At that moment the sun went down, and there glimmered at his setting a
broad rainbow in the east.
"He is gone!" said Gottreich to Justa, in a voice choked with grief;
"but he is gone from us unto his God, in the midst of great, pious, and
unmingled joy; then weep no more, Justa!"
At that moment his own hitherto restrained tears found a vent, and he
pressed the dead hand against his face.
It grew dark, and a warm rain distilled gently over the earth. The
children left his motionless form alone, and wept more tranquilly for
that sun of their love, which, with its pure light, had withdrawn from
the clouds and tempests of the world to another dawn.