to accompany me directly afterwards to
visit a sick, and I fear a dying person."

The younger children would all have been well pleased at this
invitation, had it not been for their father's very grave manner; yet no
one ventured to ask him the cause of this, and it was, perhaps, not
without a slight misgiving that some of the party laid their heads on
their pillows that night.

CHAPTER FOUR.

Dr Morgan gave no explanation of what had occurred till Charles and
Anna had left the room. He then called his anxious and ever helpful
wife to his side. "I much want your assistance, dearest Maria," he said
in a tone which showed the depressed state of his feelings; "I was
summoned just now to visit a person in a most melancholy condition. You
have heard of the forlorn old creature--Moggy, she is called by the
country people--who lives in that wretched hovel we can see high up on
the side of the mountain. She has been dreadfully burnt."

The Doctor's wife, ever ready with help and sympathy, in spite of the
numerous maternal cares to which she had to attend, immediately
exclaimed, "Poor old creature! I am sure that she much wants comforts.
Shall I not at once send up some sheets and cotton wool? and is there
anything else you can think of?"

"The comfort that is wanted, dear Maria, is nearer home," answered the
Doctor, taking his wife's hand. "I have a sad story to tell you. On
reaching Old Moggy's hovel I found her with her hands and feet horribly
burnt; so much so, that, should she survive, which I think it possible
she may not, she will, I fear, never recover their use. I found that
sturdy old Welshwoman, Jenny Davis, watching by her, and tending her
with the care of a daughter. After I had dressed the poor creature's
burnt limbs, and done all I could to alleviate her sufferings, Jenny
told me that when crossing the mountain that evening on her way home,
and having nearly reached the bottom, she observed an unusual light
streaming out of the window of Old Mountain Moggy's hovel. Believing
that the hut must be on fire, she hurried up towards it, though she
feared that she should be too late to render any effectual assistance to
its half-witted inmate. So indeed she would, had not another person
most providentially arrived before her. On looking in at the window as
she passed she saw a young gentleman--a tourist, she supposed--kneeling
down by the side of the poor creature; his great-coat was off, he having