and towns-people.

Some thought he was buried under the great chimney in the river, others
intimated plainly their fear that he was blown to atoms.

At each suggestion Grace Carden's whole body winced and quivered as if
the words were sword cuts, but she would not be persuaded to retire.
"No, no," she cried, "amongst so many, some one will guess right. I'll
hear all they think, if I die on the spot: die! What is life to me
now? Ah! what is that woman saying?" And she hurried Ransome toward a
work-woman who was haranguing several of her comrades.

The woman saw Ransome coming toward her with a strange lady.

"Ah!" said she, "here's the constable. Mr. Ransome, will ye tell me
where you found the lass, yesternight?"

"She was lying on that heap of bricks: I marked the place with two
pieces of chalk; ay, here they are; her head lay here, and her feet
here."

"Well, then," said the woman, "he will not be far from that place. You
clear away those bricks and rubbish, and you will find him underneath.
She was his sweetheart, that is well known here; and he was safe to be
beside her when the place was blown up."

"No such thing," said Ransome, angrily, and casting a side-look at
Grace. "She lay on the second floor, and Mr. Little on the first floor."

"Thou simple body," said the woman. "What's a stair to a young man when
a bonny lass lies awaiting him, and not a soul about? They were a deal
too close together all day, to be distant at night."

A murmur of assent burst at once from all the women.

Grace's body winced and quivered, but her marble face never stirred, nor
did her lips utter a sound.

"Come away from their scandalous tongues," said Ransome, eagerly.

"No," said Grace; and such a "No." It was like a statue uttering a chip
of its own marble.

Then she stood quivering a moment; then, leaving Ransome's arm, she
darted up to the place where Jael Dence had been found.

She stood like a bird on the broken masonry, and opened her beautiful
eyes in a strange way, and demanded of all her senses whether the body
of him she loved lay beneath her feet.

After a minute, during which every eye was riveted on her, she said, "I
don't believe it; I don't feel him near me. But I will know."

She took out her purse full of gold, and held it up to the women. "This
for you, if you will help me." Then, kneeling down, she began to tear
up the bricks and throw them, one after another, as far as her strength
permitted. Th