\"open it. open it quick,\" said she to the eldest child. \"it\"s bolted; make nonoise--be very still. oh, papa, let them go upstairs very softly andcarefully, and perhaps she will not hear them. she has fainted--that\"sall.\"

\"it\"s as well for her, poor creature,\" said a woman following in the wakeof the bearers of the dead. \"but yo\"re not fit to hold her. stay, i\"ll runfetch a pillow and we\"ll let her down easy on the floor.\"

this helpful neighbour was a great relief to margaret; she was evidentlya stranger to the house, a new-er in the district, indeed; but she wasso kind and thoughtful that margaret felt she was no longer needed; andthat it would be better, perhaps, to set an example of clearing the house,which was filled with idle, if sympathising gazers.

she looked round for nicholas higgins. he was not there. so she spoketo the woman who had taken the lead in placing mrs. boucher on thefloor.

\"can you give all these people a hint that they had better leāve inquietness? so that when she es round, she should only find one ortwo that she knows about her. papa, will you speak to the men, and getthem to go away? she cannot breathe, poor thing, with this crowd abouther.\"

margaret was kneeling down by mrs. boucher and bathing he face withvinegar; but in a few minutes she was surprised at the gush of fresh air.

she looked round, and saw a smile pass between her father and thewoman.

\"what is it?\" asked she.

\"only our good friend here,\" replied her father, \"hit on a capital expedientfor clearing the place.\"

\"i bid \"em begone, and each take a child with \"em, and to mind that theywere orphans, and their mother a widow. it was who could do most, andthe childer are sure of a bellyful to-day, and of kindness too. does hooknow how he died?\"

\"no,\" said margaret; \"i could not tell her all at once.\"

\"hoo mun be told because of th\" inquest. see! hoo\"s ing round; shallyou or i do it? or mappen your father would be best?\"

\"no; you, you,\" said margaret.

they awaited her perfect recovery in silence. then the neighbourwoman sat down on the floor, and took mrs. boucher\"s head andshoulders on her lap.

\"neighbour,\" said she, \"your man is dead. guess yo\" how he died?\"

\"he were drowned,\" said mrs. boucher, feebly, beginning to cry for thefirst time, at this rough probing of her sorrows.

\"he were found drowned. he were ing home very hopeless o\" aughton earth. he thought god could na be harder than men; mappen not sohard; mappen as tender as a mother; mappen tenderer. i\"m not saying hedid right, and i\"m not saying he did wrong. all i say is, may neither menor mine ever hāve his sore heart, or we may do like things.\"

\"he has left me alone wi\" a\" these children!\" moaned the widow, lessdistressed at the manner of the death than margaret expected; but it wasof a piece with her helpless character to feel his loss as principallyaffecting herself and her children.

\"not alone,\" said mr. hale, solemnly. \"who is with you? who will takeup your cause?\" the widow opened her eyes wide, and looked at thenew speaker, of whose presence she had not been aware till then.