. Turning aside to
hide her vexation, she waddled across the room, took her bonnet and
shawl from a peg she had appropriated to her special use, and
proceeded to invest herself for her departure.

"Weel! I s'pose ye'll expect me to come when ye send for me", said
she, turning round in the doorway with a grotesque distortion of her
face intended for an ironical smile.

"That is just as you please, Aunt Patty. We shall be happy to see you
whenever you choose to come. Good-by".

"Good by", said Mrs. McNab in a quacking, quavering, half resentful
tone, as she closed the door behind her.

Adele went immediately to the adjoining pantry, called Bess, a tidy
looking mulatto, gave her directions for the morning work and then
went up stairs to relieve her mother. Mrs. Dubois made signs to her
that she preferred not to resign her post. But Adele silently insisted
she should do so.

After her mother had left the room, she placed herself near the
bedside that she might observe the countenance and the breathing of
the invalid. His face was pale as that of death. His breath came and
went almost imperceptibly. The physician had excluded every ray of
sunshine and a hush, like that of the grave, reigned in the apartment.
In her intercourse with the people of the settlement, Adele had often
witnessed extreme illness and several dying scenes; but she had never
before felt herself so oppressed and awestruck as now. As she sat
there alone with the apparently dying man, she felt that a silent, yet
mighty struggle was going on between the forces of life and death. She
feared death would obtain the victory. By a terrible fascination, her
eyes became fixed on the ghastly face over which she fancied she could
perceive, more and more distinctly, shadows cast by the hand of the
destroyer. Every moment she thought of recalling her mother, but
feared that the slightest jarring movement of the atmosphere might
stop at once that feeble respiration. So she remained, watching terror
stricken, waiting for the last, absolute silence,--the immovable
repose.

Suddenly, she heard a long, deep-drawn sigh. She saw the head of the
sufferer turn gently on one side, pressing the pillow. A color--the
faintest in the world, stole over the features. The countenance
gradually settled into a calm, natural expression. The respiration
became stronger and more regular. In a few moments, he slept as softly
as a little child.

Adele's heart gave one bound, and the