ever you have. I must fly!"

And as a hen flies, fluttering and cackling, so did Mrs. Pryor flutter
and cackle, up the street, with Mrs. Weight, still breathless, pounding
and gasping in her wake.

"For the land's sake, what is the matter?" asked Diploma Crotty,
appearing in the parlor doorway with a flushed cheek and floury hands.
"Miss Vesty, I give you to understand that I ain't goin' to be called
from my bread by no--my dear heart alive! what has happened?"

Miss Vesta put her hand to her throat.

"My aunt, Diploma!" she whispered. "She--Mrs. Weight says there is crape
on the door. I--I seem to have lost my strength. Oh, where is Doctor
Stedman?"

A brown, horrified face looked for an instant over Diploma's shoulder;
the face of Direxia Hawkes, who had come in search of something her
mistress wanted, leaving the second maid in charge of her patient; it
vanished, and another figure scurried up the street, breathless with
fear and wonder.

"You lay down, Miss Vesty!" commanded Diploma. "Lay down this minute,
that's a good girl. Whoever's dead, you ain't, and I don't want you
should. There! Here comes Doctor Stedman this minute. I'll run and let
him in. Oh, Doctor Stedman, it ain't true, is it?"

"Probably not," said Doctor Stedman. "What is it?"

"Ain't you been at Mis' Tree's?"

"No, I am going there now. I have been out in the country. What is the
matter?"

"James!" cried Miss Vesta's voice.

The sound of it struck the physician's ear; he looked at Diploma.

"What has happened?"

"Go in! go in and see her!" whispered the old woman. "They say Mis'
Tree's dead; I dono; but go in, do, there's a good soul!"

"Oh, James!" cried Miss Vesta, and she held out both hands, trembling
with fever and distress. "I am so glad you have come. James! Aunt
Marcia is dead; there is crape on her door. Did you know? Were you with
her? Oh, James, I am all alone now. I am all alone in the world!"

"Never, while I am alive!" said James Stedman, catching the little
trembling hands in his. "Look up, Vesta! Cheer up, my dear! You can
never be alone while I am in the same world with you. If your aunt is
indeed dead, then you belong to me, Vesta; why, you know you do, you
foolish little woman. There! there! stop trembling. My dear, did you
think I would let you be really alone for five minutes?"

"Oh, James!" cried Miss Vesta. "Consider our age! Sister Phoebe--"

"I do consider our age," said Doctor Stedman. "It is just what