a sign begging her to continue, and she finished the
song.

"Will you let me see the words," he said.

She handed them to him. He read them, laid down the manuscript, and,
requesting to be taken to his patient, turned to the door. Perhaps he
thought she had laid a music-snare for him.

The verses were these:

A YEAR SONG.

Sighing above,
Rustling below,
Through the woods
The winds go.
Beneath, dead crowds;
Above, life bare;
And the besom winds
Sweep the air.
_Heart, leave thy woe;
Let the dead things go._

Through the brown leaves
Gold stars push;
A mist of green
Veils the bush.
Here a twitter,
There a croak!
They are coming--
The spring-folk!
_Heart, be not dumb;
Let the live things come._

Through the beach
The winds go,
With a long speech,
Loud and slow.
The grass is fine,
And soft to lie in;
The sun doth shine
The blue sky in.
_Heart, be alive;
Let the new things thrive._

Round again!
Here now--
A rimy fruit
On a bare bough!
There the winter
And the snow;
And a sighing ever
To fall and go!
_Heart, thy hour shall be;
Thy dead will comfort thee._

Faber was still folded in the atmosphere of the song when, from the
curate's door, he arrived at the minister's, resolved to make that
morning a certain disclosure--one he would gladly have avoided, but felt
bound in honor to make. The minister grew pale as he listened, but held
his peace. Not until the point came at which he found himself personally
concerned, did he utter a syllable.

I will in my own words give the substance of the doctor's communication,
stating the facts a little more fairly to him than his pride would allow
him to put them in his narrative.

Paul Faber was a student of St. Bartholomew's, and during some time held
there the office of assistant house-surgeon. Soon after his appointment,
he being then three and twenty, a young woman was taken into one of the
wards, in whom he gradually grew much interested. Her complaint caused
her much suffering, but was more tedious than dangerous.

Attracted by her sweet looks, but more by her patience, and the
gratitude with which she received the attention shown her, he began to
talk to her a little, especially during a slight operation that had to
be not unfrequently performed. Then he came to giving