For the present there was this horrid, almost vacuous calm.
Presently the woman stirred.

Instinct--the instinct of the stricken beast to creep to hiding--moved her, while reason was still bound in lethargy.

She moved to step, drawing at her son's hand.

"Come, Charles," she said, in a low, hoarse voice.

"Come!" The touch and the speech awakened him to life.