ice
her. At last she feared he might already have passed away, and she
put her hand upon his shoulder, and down his arm. He then gently
touched her hand with his, showing her plainly that he was not
only alive, but conscious. She then offered him food,--the thin
porridge,--which he was wont to take, and the medicine. She offered
him some wine too, but he would take nothing.

At twelve o'clock a letter was brought to her, which had come by the
post. She saw that it was from Alice, and opening it found that it
was very long. At that moment she could not read it, but she saw
words in it that made her wish to know its contents as quickly as
possible. But she could not leave her grandfather then. At two
o'clock the doctor came to him, and remained there till the dusk of
the evening had commenced. At eight o'clock the old man was dead.

CHAPTER LIV

Showing How Alice Was Punished

Poor Kate's condition at the old Hall on that night was very sad.
The presence of death is always a source of sorrow, even though the
circumstances of the case are of a kind to create no agony of grief.
The old man who had just passed away up-stairs was fully due to go.
He had lived his span all out, and had himself known that to die was
the one thing left for him to do. Kate also had expected his death,
and had felt that the time had come in which it would be foolish even
to wish that it should be arrested. But death close to one is always
sad as it is solemn.

And she was quite alone at Vavasor Hall. She had no acquaintance
within some miles of her. From the young vicar, though she herself
had not quarrelled with him, she could receive no comfort, as she
hardly knew him; nor was she of a temperament which would dispose her
to turn to a clergyman at such a time for comfort, unless to one who
might have been an old friend. Her aunt and brother would probably
both come to her, but they could hardly be with her for a day or two,
and during that day or two it would be needful that orders should
be given which it is disagreeable for a woman to have to give. The
servants, moreover, in the house were hardly fit to assist her much.
There was an old butler, or footman, who had lived at the Hall for
more than fifty years, but he was crippled with rheumatism, and so
laden with maladies, that he rarely crept out of his own room. He was
simply an additional burden on the others. There was a boy who had
lately done all the work which the other sho