he had been the husband of her love. Sir Louis had
not been to her an affectionate son; but still he had been her child,
her only child. Now they were both gone. Who can wonder that the
world should be a blank to her?

Still the doctor spoke soothing words, and still he held her hand.
He knew that his words could not console her; but the sounds of his
kindness at such desolate moments are, to such minds as hers, some
alleviation of grief. She hardly answered him, but sat there staring
out before her, leaving her hand passively to him, and swaying her
head backwards and forwards as though her grief were too heavy to be
borne.

At last, her eye rested on an article which stood upon the table, and
she started up impetuously from her chair. She did this so suddenly,
that the doctor's hand fell beside him before he knew that she had
risen. The table was covered with all those implements which become
so frequent about a house when severe illness is an inhabitant there.
There were little boxes and apothecaries' bottles, cups and saucers
standing separate, and bowls, in which messes have been prepared with
the hope of suiting a sick man's failing appetite. There was a small
saucepan standing on a plate, a curiously shaped glass utensil left
by the doctor, and sundry pieces of flannel, which had been used in
rubbing the sufferer's limbs. But in the middle of the debris stood
one black bottle, with head erect, unsuited to the companionship in
which it was found.

"There," she said, rising up, and seizing this in a manner that
would have been ridiculous had it not been so truly tragic. "There,
that has robbed me of everything--of all that I ever possessed; of
husband and child; of the father and son; that has swallowed them
both--murdered them both! Oh, doctor! that such a thing as that
should cause such bitter sorrow! I have hated it always, but now--Oh,
woe is me! weary me!" And then she let the bottle drop from her hand
as though it were too heavy for her.

"This comes of their barro-niting," she continued. "If they had let
him alone, he would have been here now, and so would the other one.
Why did they do it? why did they do it? Ah, doctor! people such as us
should never meddle with them above us. See what has come of it; see
what has come of it!"

The doctor could not remain with her long, as it was necessary that
he should take upon himself the direction of the household, and give
orders for the funeral. First of all