at in de back o' my
head--he look so awful, horrid gashly! Arter speakin' in a voice hollow
as an empty coffin, an' skeerin' me out'n my seventeen sensibles axin
arter you, he jes tuk hisself off summers, an' I ain't seen him sence."

"What did he ask you? What did you tell him?"

"He jes ax where you was. I telled him how you were gone home 'long o'
Miss Marian; he ax when you were comin' back; I telled him I believed
not till to-morrow mornin'; then his face turned all sorts of awful dark
colors, an' seemed like it crushed right in, an' he nodded and said
'Ah!' but it sounded jes like a hollow groan; and he tuk hisself off,
and I ain't seen him sence."

The elf danced about the room, unable to restrain her glee. And the
longer Dr. Grimshaw remained away, the more excited she grew. She
skipped about like the very sprite of mischief, exclaiming to herself:

"Oh, shan't we have fun presently! Oh, shan't we, though! The Grim
maniac! he has gone to detect me! And he'll break in upon Thurston and
Marian's interview. Won't there be an explosion! Oh, Jupiter! Oh, Puck!
Oh, Mercury! What fun--what delicious fun! Wr-r-r-r! I can scarcely
contain myself! Begone, Maria! Vanish! I want all the space in this room
to myself! Oh, fun alive! What a row there'll be! Me-thinks I hear the
din of battle!

"Oh clanga a rang! a rang! clang! clash! Whoop!"

sang the elf, springing and dancing, and spinning, and whirling, around
and around the room in the very ecstasy of mischief. Her dance was
brought to a sudden and an awful close.

The hall door was thrown violently open, hurried and irregular steps
were heard approaching, the parlor door was pushed open, and Dr.
Grimshaw staggered forward and paused before her!

Yes; her frolic was brought to an eternal end. She saw at a glance that
something fatal, irreparable, had happened. There was blood upon his
hands and wrist-bands! Oh, more--far more! There was the unmistakable
mark of Cain upon his writhen brow! Before now she had seen him look
pale and wild and haggard, and had known neither fear nor pity for him.
But now! An exhumed corpse galvanized into a horrid semblance of life
might look as he did--with just such sunken cheeks and ashen lips and
frozen eyes; with just such a collapsed and shuddering form; yet,
withal, could not have shown that terrific look of utter, incurable
despair! His fingers, talon-like in their horny paleness and rigidity,
clutched his breast, as if to tear