it
again!'

Tom shook his head, afraid of the sound of the name as yet, and
scarcely durst even utter the word 'Ella' above his breath.

'She is gone out with Cousin Deborah to an apple bee,' was the
reassuring answer. 'She wanted change, poor child! Is she getting
better?'

Averil was roused by a cough, the sound which tore Tom's heart by its
import, but he drew back out of her sight, and let Cora raise her, and
give her drink, in a soothing tender manner, that was evident
restoration. 'Cora dear, is it you?' she said, faintly; 'didn't I hear
some one else's voice? Didn't they say--?' and the shiver that crept
over her was almost a return of the hysteric fit.

'We said he was free,' said Cora, holding her in her arms.

'Free--yes, I know what that means--free among the dead,' said Averil,
calmly, smoothing Cora's hair, and looking in her face. 'Don't be
afraid to let me hear. I shall be there with him and Minna soon.
Didn't somebody come to tell me? Please let him in, I'll be quiet now.'

And as she made gestures of arranging her hair and dress, Tom guardedly
presented himself, saying in a voice that trembled with his endeavour
to render it calm, 'Did you think I should have come if I had nothing
better to tell you?' and as she put out her hand in greeting, he took
it in both his own, and met her eyes looking at him wide open, in the
first dawning of the hope of an impossible gladness. 'Yes,' he said,
'the truth is come out--he is cleared--he is at home--at Stoneborongh!'

The hot fingers closed convulsively on his own, then she raised
herself, pressed her hands together, and gasped and struggled fearfully
for breath. The joy and effort for self-command were more than the
enfeebled frame could support, and there was a terrible and prolonged
renewal of those agonizing paroxysms, driving away every thought from
the other two except of the immediate needs. At last, when the
violence of the attack had subsided, and left what was either fainting
or stupor, they judged it best to carry her to her bed, and trust that,
reviving without the associations of the other room, the agitation
would be less likely to return, and that she might sleep under the
influence of an anodyne. Poor Tom! it was not the reception he had
figured to himself, and after he had laid her down, and left her to
Cora and to Katty to be undressed, he returned to the parlour, and
stood over the sinking wood-fire in dejection and dreariness