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 with 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 . At intervals , and without disturbing the repose of his countenance , a very faint trembling passed over him from head to foot , as if a mild but somewhat cool wind had breathed upon him and made him shiver . As the boy thus led her by the hand in his quiet progress over the borders of eternity , Dorothy almost imagined that she could discern the near though dim delightfulness of the home he was about to reach ; she would not have enticed the little wanderer back , though she bemoaned herself that she must leave him and return . But just when Ilbrahim 's feet were pressing on the soil of Paradise he heard a voice behind him , and it recalled him a few , few paces of the weary path which he had travelled . As Dorothy looked upon his features she perceived that their placid expression was again disturbed . Her own thoughts had been so wrapped in him that all sounds of the storm and of human speech were lost to her ; but when Catharine 's shriek pierced through the room , the boy strove to raise himself . `` Friend , she is come ! Open unto her ! '' cried he . In a moment his mother was kneeling by the bedside ; she drew Ilbrahim to her bosom , and he nestled there with no violence of joy , but contentedly as if he were hushing himself to sleep . He looked into her face , and , reading its agony , said with feeble earnestness , `` Mourn not , dearest mother . I am happy now ; '' and with these words the gentle boy was dead . * * * * * The king 's mandate to stay the New England persecutors was effectual in preventing further martyrdoms , but the colonial authorities , trusting in the remoteness of their situation , and perhaps in the supposed instability of the royal government , shortly renewed their severities in all other respects .
Catharine 's fanaticism had XXXXX wilder by the sundering of all human ties ; and wherever a scourge was lifted , there was she to receive the blow ; and whenever a dungeon was unbarred , thither she came to cast herself upon the floor .
become come leave perceived pierced recalled relinquished remained sleep trusting