t part with his older boy. Clara had asked
no questions concerning the interview with James, and her father simply
stated that they could have a good talk about it in the evening.

The tenement at No. 760 was crowded, and in spite of the wintry weather
large numbers of men and women stood outside in the snow. Mr. Hardy
had ordered his sleigh, and he and his wife had gone down to the house
in that, ready to take someone to the cemetery.

The simple service as it began was exceedingly impressive to Mr. Hardy.
Most of the neighbours present looked at him and his well-dressed wife
in sullen surprise. She noticed the looks with a heightening colour;
but Mr. Hardy was too much absorbed in his thought of what he had done
and left undone in this family to be influenced by the behaviour of
those about him.

Mr. Jones offered a prayer for the comfort of God to rest on the
stricken family. He then read a short passage from John's Gospel
appropriate to the occasion, and said a few simple words, mostly
addressed to the neighbours present. The poor widow had been removed
to a small room upstairs, and lay there, cared for by the faithful
sister. The minister had nearly concluded his remarks when a voice was
heard in the room above, followed by alarmed expostulations. Then
there was a rapid movement in the narrow hall, and, with a scream of
frenzy, Mrs. Scoville rushed down the stairs and burst into the room
where the dead body of her husband lay. She had suddenly awakened out
of the fainting stupor in which she had been lying since her husband's
death, and realised what was going on in the house with a quick
gathering of passion and strength, such as even the dying sometimes are
known to possess. She had escaped from her sister and the neighbour
who were watching with her, and, crazy with grief, flung herself over
the coffin, moaning and crying out in such heart-breaking accents that
all present were for a moment flung into a state of inaction and awe.

Mrs. Hardy was first to move toward the stricken woman. Where did the
wife of the once haughty and proud man learn the touch of sympathy that
drew that other poor sister nearer to her, and finally soothed her into
quietness? Certain it is that suffering in her own home had
marvellously taught the richly dressed woman, the refined, cultured
lady, to hold this other one to be of the same household of God with
her. So it was that she finally succeeded in drawing her away in