, "Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid."

He was sitting beside the remains of his wife with the book in his hand,
as if he had never moved since the moment of her death, when Minnie
entered.

He had really loved his wife with all the fervour of his passionate
Irish nature, and the remembrance that but for his intemperance, and his
cruelty to her, when under the influence of drink, she might have still
been alive and happy, had overcome him to such an extent that he had
fallen into a half unconscious state, and did not seem to be able to
realise anything except that she would speak to him no more.

Minnie could not wait then, so she ran into another cottage a little way
further on, the door of which was already open, and finding the object
of her search (Molly Gray) engaged in the preparation of her own
breakfast, she told her of the calamity which had befallen the Malones,
and begged her to go in and help them.

Molly only waited to refill her kettle that she might find it ready for
any emergency, and carrying her own tea with her in a can wherewith to
refresh the worn-out watcher, she at once repaired to the bereaved home.

Greatly relieved to be able to leave them under efficient care, Minnie
hastened home, having first seen the grief-stricken husband swallow some
tea, and a few mouthsful of bread, but she had no appetite for her own
breakfast, though she made a pretence of eating to escape comment, and
rose to prepare for church without having tasted a morsel.

None knew of her last night's visit except her father and Charlie, and
as her father did not mention it and Charlie had not yet appeared, she
was not annoyed with the questions and expressions of wonder which she
had hardly hoped to elude. Mabel was not at church, neither was she at
school next day, an excuse being sent for her absence, stating that she
was confined to the house with a slight attack of influenza. Minnie's
excitement of Saturday night, thus augmented by anxiety on her friend's
behalf, now began to tell upon her, so much, indeed, that before the
work of the school was over, every one observed its effect in her
heightened colour, and the unnatural brightness of her eyes round which
dark circles had formed. They all attributed it to Mabel's illness and
did not think it necessary to enquire into the cause of her apparent
feverishness, so that she got away from school also without being
embarrassed by troublesome explanat