16 TURNS OF FORTUNE,

Sarah called at the butcher’s, but she exchanged
smiles or greetings with few; and the baker
rang the rusty bell twice a-week, which was an-
swered by their only servant. When Mr. Bond
first took possession of the manor-house, he
hired five domestics, and everybody said they
could not do with so few; and there were two
men to look after the gardens; but after his
daughter’s elopement and his wife’s death, three
were discharged, and he let the lands and gar-
deus; and then another went, and Sarah felt
the loneliness so great, that she made the remain-
ing one sleep in her ownroom. The house had
been frequently attacked; once, in a fit of des-
pair, her brother-in-law had forced his way in
the night to the old man’s side, and but for her
prompt interference, murder'would have been
done. No wonder, then, that her shattered
nerves trembled as she watched the shortening
candle, and heard the raving of the wind, saw
the spectral shadows the broken plumes that
ornamented the canopy of the bed cast upon
the fantastic walls, felt that his hour was at
hand, and feared that “‘ he would die and make
no sign;”’ still, while those waving fantasies
passing to and fro through her active but weak-
ened mind, made her tremble in every limb,
‘and ooze at every pore; and though unable to
read on steadily, her eyes continued fixed upon
the book which her hand grasped, with the same
feeling that made those of old cling to the altar