rdy asked the question mechanically, but all
the while his mind was in a whirl of remorse.

"Yes; up to the last moment."

Mr. Hardy went to the door and knocked. A woman, one of the
neighbours, opened it and he went in. The sight stunned him. The dead
man had been removed to a rear room, but his wife lay upon the very
same ragged lounge Mr. Hardy had seen in his dream. The surgeon was
bending over her. The room was full of neighbours.

The surgeon suddenly arose and, turning about, spoke in a quiet but
decided tone:

"Now then, good people, just go home, will you, for a while? And
suppose some of you take these children along with you. You can't do
anything more now, and your presence disturbs the woman! Ah, Mr.
Hardy," he exclaimed, seeing the manager, "you here? This is a sad
business. Come, now, ladies, I must ask you to retire."

Everybody went out except the surgeon, the poor woman's sister, and Mr.
Hardy. He drew the surgeon over to the window and inquired concerning
the particulars. Mr. Hardy had received a shock at the very first, and
he trembled violently.

"Well, you see," explained the surgeon, "Scoville was a dead man from
the minute of the accident. Nothing could have saved him When the
accident happened I was down at Bayville attending the men who were
injured in the wreck last Saturday. I telegraphed that I would come at
once. But there was a delay on the road, and I did not get here until
three o'clock in the morning. Meanwhile everything had been done that
was possible. But nothing could save the poor fellow. This shock will
kill his wife. I doubt if she lives through the day."

"What will be done with the children?" Mr. Hardy asked the question
mechanically, again feeling the need of time to think out what was best
to be done. The surgeon shrugged his shoulders. He was accustomed to
scenes of suffering and distress continually.

"Orphans' Home, I suppose," he replied laconically.

A movement and a moan from the woman called him to her side, and Mr.
Hardy, left alone, thought a moment, then stepped over to the surgeon
and asked him if he could go into the other room and see the dead man.
The surgeon nodded a surprised assent, and Mr. Hardy stepped into the
rear room and closed the door. He drew back the sheet from the face of
the man and looked down upon it. Nothing in all his experience had
ever moved him so deeply. The features of the dead man were fixed, it
seeme