is ulster, and the women, hooded and shawled,
drew round the bed; but Ethel and Milly stood at the foot. The inanimate
form embarrassed them all, made them feel self-conscious and afraid to
meet one another's eyes.

'Better loosen his things,' said Leonora, and Rose's fingers were
instantly at work to help her.

Uncle Meshach was white, rigid, and stonecold; the stiff 'Myatt' jaw
was set; the eyes, wide open, looked upwards, and strangely outwards, in
a fixed stare. And his audience thought, as they gazed in a sort of
foolish astonishment at the puny, grotesque, and unfamiliar thing, 'Is
this really Uncle Meshach?' John lifted the wrist and felt for the
pulse, but he could distinguish no beat, and he shook his head
accordingly. 'Try the heart, mother,' Rose suggested, and Leonora, after
penetrating beneath garment after garment, placed her hand on Meshach's
icy and tranquil breast. And she too shook her head. Then John, with an
air of finality, took out his gold repeater and when he had polished the
glass he held it to Uncle Meshach's parted lips. 'Can you see any
moisture on it?' he asked, taking it to the light, but none of them
could detect the slightest dimness.

'I do wish the doctor would be quick,' said Milly.

'Doctor'll be no use,' John remarked gruffly, returning to gaze again at
the immovable face. 'Except for an inquest,' he added.

'I think some one had better walk down to Church Street at once, and
tell Aunt Hannah that uncle is here,' said Leonora. 'Perhaps she _is_
ill. Anyhow, she'll be very anxious.' But she faltered before the
complicated problem. 'Rose, go and wake Bessie, and ask her if uncle
called here during the evening, and tell her to get up at once and light
the gas-stove and put some water on to boil, and then to light a fire
here.'

'And who's to go to Church Street?' John asked quickly.

Leonora looked for an instant at Rose, as the girl left the room. She
felt that on such an occasion she could more easily spare Ethel's sweet
eagerness to help than Rose's almost sinister self-possession. 'Ethel
and Milly,' she said promptly. 'At least they can run on first. And be
very careful what you say to Aunt Hannah, my dears. And one of you must
hurry back at once in any case, by the road, not by the fields, and tell
us what has happened.'

Rose came in to say that Bessie and the other servants had seen nothing
of Uncle Meshach, and that they were all three getting up, and then she
disappea