obs, for the old colored
woman had been with her many years.

By this time Matty had tied on her scarf, opened the door, and as
Virginia saw her disappear, she sank limply to the floor. Milly Ann
rubbed her yellow back against her young mistress's dress. Virginia
caught her in her arms and drew her close.

"Kitty, kitty," she sobbed, "I've got to go! He said I could take you
and your babies, and I will, I will! I won't leave you here with the
spirits."

She rose unsteadily to her feet and went to the cupboard, where she
found a large pail. Into this she folded a roller towel. She then
lifted the kittens from the box behind the stove and placed them in
the pail, first pressing her lips lovingly to each warm, wriggley
little body. Milly Ann cuddled contentedly with her offspring as the
girl covered them up.

Jinnie had suddenly grown older, for a responsibility rested upon her
which no one else could assume.

To go forth into the blizzard meant she must wrap up warmly. This she
did. Then she wrapped a small brown fiddle in her jacket, took the
pail and went to the door. There she stood, considering a moment, with
her hand on the knob. With no further hesitancy she placed the kittens
and fiddle gently on the floor, and went to the stairs. The thought of
the spirits made her shiver. She saw long shadows making lines here
and there, and had no doubt but that these were the ghosts Matty had
seen. She closed her eyes tightly and began to ascend the stairs,
feeling her way along the wall. At the top she opened reluctant lids.
The library door stood ajar as Matty had left it, and the room
appeared quite the same as it had a few moments before, save for the
long figure of a man lying full length before the grate. That eternal
period, that awful stop which puts a check on human lives, had settled
once and for all the earthly concerns of her father. The space between
her and the body seemed peopled with spectral beings, which moved to
and fro in the dimly lit room. Her father lay on his back, the flames
from the fire making weird red and yellow twisting streaks on his
white, upturned face.

The taut muscles grew limp in the girl's body as she staggered forward
and stood contemplating the wide-open, staring eyes. Then with a long
sigh breathed between quivering lips, she dropped beside the lifeless
man. The deadly forces eddying around her were not of her own making.
With the going of this person, who was her father by natur