ls and relies of her, quitted the apartment,
and descended to the parlour behind the shop. On the way he met with the
kind servant, and recalling the grief that she had manifested for his
mother since he had been in the house, he placed two sovereigns in her
hand. "And now," said he, as the servant wept while he spoke, "now I can
bear to ask you what I have not before done. How did my poor mother die?
Did she suffer much?--or--or--"

"She went off like a lamb, sir," said the girl, drying her eyes. "You
see the gentleman had been with her all the day, and she was much more
easy and comfortable in her mind after he came."

"The gentleman! Not the gentleman I found here?"

"Oh, dear no! Not the pale middle-aged gentleman nurse and I saw go down
as the clock struck two. But the young, soft-spoken gentleman who came
in the morning, and said as how he was a relation. He stayed with her
till she slept; and, when she woke, she smiled in his face--I shall
never forget that smile--for I was standing on the other side, as
it might be here, and the doctor was by the window, pouring out the
doctor's stuff in the glass; and so she looked on the young gentleman,
and then looked round at us all, and shook her head very gently, but did
not speak. And the gentleman asked her how she felt, and she took both
his hands and kissed them; and then he put his arms round and raised her
up to take the physic like, and she said then, 'You will never forget
them?' and he said, 'Never.' I don't know what that meant, sir!"

"Well, well--go on."

"And her head fell back on his buzzom, and she looked so happy; and,
when the doctor came to the bedside, she was quite gone."

"And the stranger had my post! No matter; God bless him--God bless him.
Who was he? what was his name?"

"I don't know, sir; he did not say. He stayed after the doctor went, and
cried very bitterly; he took on more than you did, sir."

"And the other gentleman came just as he was a-going, and they did not
seem to like each other; for I heard him through the wall, as nurse and
I were in the next room, speak as if he was scolding; but he did not
stay long."

"And has never been seen since?"

"No, sir. Perhaps missus can tell you more about him. But won't you take
something, sir? Do--you look so pale."

Philip, without speaking, pushed her gently aside, and went slowly down
the stairs. He entered the parlour, where two or three children were
seated, playing at dominoes; he