I DID not see Diamond for a week or so after this, and then he told me
what I have now told you. I should have been astonished at his being
able even to report such conversations as he said he had had with
North Wind, had I not known already that some children are profound in
metaphysics. But a fear crosses me, lest, by telling so much about
my friend, I should lead people to mistake him for one of those
consequential, priggish little monsters, who are always trying to say
clever things, and looking to see whether people appreciate them. When a
child like that dies, instead of having a silly book written about him,
he should be stuffed like one of those awful big-headed fishes you
see in museums. But Diamond never troubled his head about what people
thought of him. He never set up for knowing better than others. The
wisest things he said came out when he wanted one to help him with some
difficulty he was in. He was not even offended with Nanny and Jim for
calling him a silly. He supposed there was something in it, though he
could not quite understand what. I suspect however that the other name
they gave him, God's Baby, had some share in reconciling him to it.
Happily for me, I was as much interested in metaphysics as Diamond
himself, and therefore, while he recounted his conversations with North
Wind, I did not find myself at all in a strange sea, although certainly
I could not always feel the bottom, being indeed convinced that the
bottom was miles away.
“Could it be all dreaming, do you think, sir?” he asked anxiously.
“I daren't say, Diamond,” I answered. “But at least there is one thing
you may be sure of, that there is a still better love than that of the
wonderful being you call North Wind. Even if she be a dream, the dream
of such a beautiful creature could not come to you by chance.”
“Yes, I know,” returned Diamond; “I know.”
Then he was silent, but, I confess, appeared more thoughtful than
satisfied.
The next time I saw him, he looked paler than usual.
“Have you seen your friend again?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he answered, solemnly.
“Did she take you out with her?”
“No. She did not speak to me. I woke all at once, as I generally do when
I am going to see her, and there she was against the door into the big
room, sitting just as I saw her sit on her own doorstep, as white as
snow, and her eyes as blue as the heart of an iceberg. She looked at me,
but never moved or spoke.”
“Weren't you afraid?” I asked.
“No. Why should I have been?” he answered. “I only felt a little cold.”
“Did she stay long?”
“I don't know. I fell asleep again. I think I have been rather cold ever
since though,” he added with a smile.
I did not quite like this, but I said nothing.
Four days after, I called again at the Mound. The maid who opened
the door looked grave, but I suspected nothing. When I reached the
drawing-room, I saw Mrs. Raymond had been crying.
“Haven't you heard?” she said, seeing my questioning looks.
“I've heard nothing,” I answered.
“This morning we found our dear little Diamond lying on the floor of the
big attic-room, just outside his own door--fast asleep, as we thought.
But when we took him up, we did not think he was asleep. We saw
that----”
Here the kind-hearted lady broke out crying afresh.
“May I go and see him?” I asked.
“Yes,” she sobbed. “You know your way to the top of the tower.”
I walked up the winding stair, and entered his room. A lovely figure, as
white and almost as clear as alabaster, was lying on the bed. I saw at
once how it was. They thought he was dead. I knew that he had gone to
the back of the north wind.