THE HISTORY OF A NUT-CRACKER. 47

seemed go strange to thejudge, that he took the doctor’s hand,
felt his pulse for some moments in silence, and then said,
‘« My dear friend, you are very feverish, and I should advise
you to go home to bed.”

 

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DUEL.

DURING. the night which followed the scene just related,
and while the moon, shining in all its splendour, cast its bright
rays through the openings in the curtains, Mary, who now
slept with her mother, was awakened by a noise that seemed
to come from the corner of the room, and was mingled with
sharp screeches and squeakings.

“ Alas!” cried Mary, who remembered to have heard the
same noise on the occasion of the famous battle; “alas! the
mice are coming again! Mamma, mamma, mamma!”

But her voice was stifled in her throat, in spite of all her
efforts: she endeavoured to get up to run out of the room,
but seemed to be nailed to her bed, unable to move her
limbs. At length, turning her affrighted eyes towards the
corner of the room, whence the noise came, she beheld the