ndulgence from above, where the secrets of
all hearts are known. She was not insane, Tom; but from the time that
she supposed that her son had been gibbeted, there was something like
insanity about her: the blow had oppressed her brain--it had stupefied
her, and blunted her moral sense of right and wrong. She told me, after
you had communicated to her that her son was in the hospital, and had
died penitent, that she felt as if a heavy weight had been taken off her
mind; that she had been rid of an oppression which had ever borne down
her faculties--a sort of giddiness and confusion in the brain, which had
made her indifferent, if not reckless, to everything; and I do believe
it, from the change which took place in her during the short time which
has since elapsed."

"What change was that? for you know that I have been too busy during the
short intervals I have been here to call upon her."

"A change in her appearance and manners: she appeared to recover in part
her former position in life; she was always clean in her person, as far
as she could be in such a shop as hers; and if she had nothing else, she
always had a clean cap and apron."

"Indeed?"

"Yes; and on Sundays she dressed very neat and tidy. She did not go to
church, but she purchased a large Bible and a pair of spectacles, and
was often to be seen reading it at the door; and when I talked to her
she was glad to enter upon serious things. I spoke to her about her
fondness for money, and pointed out that it was a sin. She replied that
she did feel very fond of money for a long while, for she always thought
that some one was nigh her snatching at it, and had done so ever since
her son had robbed her; but that since she knew what had become of him
she did not feel fond of it--that is, not so fond of it as before; and I
believe that such was the case. Her love of money arose from her
peculiar state of mind. She had many comforts about her house when she
died, which were not in it when I called to see her at the time when she
was first ill; but her purchasing the large Bible on account of the
print was to me a satisfactory proof that she had no longer such
avaricious feelings."

"I am very glad to hear all this, Anderson, I assure you, for she was
one of my earliest friends, and I loved her."

"Not more than she loved you, Tom. Her last words almost were calling
down blessings on your head; and, thanks be to God! she died as a
Christian should die, a