ctor. So I first
helped them to get poor Allison to his room, and then I rushed to the
inn, got a trap, and went and brought a doctor back with me. There is
absolutely nothing to be done; but it is a satisfaction to feel that a
doctor has seen him. Taken right way, he's not half a bad sort, Sally.
He's bearing his pain like a man, and shook me by the hand to bid me
good-bye, and even sent a message to you. 'Say good-bye to missy. I'd
like to have said it myself,'" he said.

"He shall! I'll go and see him," Sally said, with a set white face.
"If the sight of me can give him the smallest pleasure, I'll go."

"It's rather awful, Sally; you've not had to face death yet. I would
not go if I were you."

"We all must face it some time or other. I'll go, Paul; I shan't be
long. No! don't come with me, please; I'd rather go alone."

"Put on a waterproof, then, and take an umbrella; it's a wild night,
and it has just come on to rain," said Paul, and, moved by an unwonted
impulse, he stooped and kissed her.

The door of the blacksmith's house was open when Sally reached it, and,
entering softly, she removed her wet cloak and stood in the dimly
lighted parlour wondering how she should make her presence known. From
overhead came the sound of voices talking in suppressed whispers, and
once Sally shivered, for a long-drawn moan fell upon her ear.

"I'll go and see the old mother. Perhaps I can stay with her, and set
Mrs. Allison free when I have just said good-bye to her husband,"
thought Sally, as she went up the stairs.

A near neighbour met her at the top.

"We're just at our wits' end, miss," she said in answer to Sally's
inquiry. "The old lady's not to be told anything about it, and Mrs.
Allison, poor soul! falls out of one faint into another, and can't stay
in the room along with him who's dying."

"May I go to him for a minute. He wanted to see me," said Sally, with
a sob.

But, ushered into the chamber of death, Sally stood for a moment
overpowered by an awful terror: a chill which seemed as if it would
stop the beating of her heart, a terror she could not have explained.
Face to face with death! The words were familiar enough, but they had
conveyed little meaning to her. This man, who lay there, unable from
time to time to keep back a groan of agony, with the grey shadow
deepening on his face, and the drops of perspiration standing on his
forehead, would soon lie there silent and still, capable of n