ctor to think of.

"Letty," she said, "for some time now I have been considering closing
the house. I'm lonely here. I intend to go to the city and live with my
sister. So, you see, I shan't be needing you any longer. I'll be leaving
within the next two days. I'm sorry."

Letty was speechless. She had expected something terrible, but not this.
This wasn't so! Mrs. DeBrugh was lying! It was the will she was afraid
of. Letty remembered Mr. DeBrugh's promise.

She did not complain, however. Her only words were, "I'll leave
tomorrow."

That night she packed her things. She had no definite plans, but she
hoped something would turn up.

* * * * *

Sleep would not come easy, so Letty lay in bed and thought of old Mr.
DeBrugh. She imagined he was before her in the room, reclining on the
sofa, puffing long on the meerschaum. She even saw in fancy the curling
wisps of gray smoke drifting upward, upward....

It was sleep. Then, with a start, she was suddenly wide awake.

She had surely heard a scream. But no.

And then, as soft and as silent as the night wind, came the whisper:
"Letty."

It drifted slowly off into silence, and a cool breeze crossed her brow.
She suddenly felt wet with perspiration. She listened closely, but the
whisper was not repeated.

Then, noiselessly, she got out of bed, stepped into slippers, and drew a
robe about her. Just as silently she left her room and walked down the
hall to Mrs. DeBrugh's bedroom.

She rapped softly on the door, fearing the wrath of the woman within at
being awakened in the middle of the night. There was no answer, no sound
from inside the room.

Letty hesitated, wondering what to do. And once more she felt that cool,
death-like breeze, and heard the faintest of whispers, fainter even than
the sighing of the night wind: "Letty."

She opened the door and switched on the light. Mrs. DeBrugh lay in the
bed as in sleep, but Letty knew, as she had known about Mr. DeBrugh,
that it was more than sleep.

She quickly called the doctor, and sometime much later he arrived, his
eyes heavy from lack of sleep.

"Dead," he remarked, after looking at the body. "Probably had a shock.
Fright, nightmare, or something her heart couldn't stand. I always
thought she would have died first."

Letty walked slowly from the room, down the stairs, still in her robe
and slippers. The doctor followed and passed her, going through the door
into the outside.

S