ld not
speak; he rested his head against her, and gasped. She was terribly
frightened. "I'll call--" and she would have gone, but he held her.
"No--no--they can't!" He was prevented from saying more, by chattering
teeth and deadly faintness. She tried to support him, but could only
guide him as he sank, till he lay at full length on the floor, where she
put a pillow under his head, and gave him some water. "Is it--oh, tell
me! Are they much hurt? Oh, try to say!"

"They say Margaret is alive," said Norman, in gasps; "but--And papa--he
stood up--sat--walked--was better-"

"Is he hurt--much hurt?"

"His arm--" and the tremor and fainting stopped him again.

"Mamma?" whispered Ethel; but Norman only pressed his face into the
pillow.

She was so bewildered as to be more alive to the present distress of his
condition than to the vague horrors downstairs. Some minutes passed in
silence, Norman lying still, excepting a nervous trembling that agitated
his whole frame. Again was heard the strange tread, doors opening and
shutting, and suppressed voices, and he turned his face upwards, and
listened with his hand pressed to his forehead, as if to keep himself
still enough to listen.

"Oh! what is the matter? What is it?" cried Ethel, startled and recalled
to the sense of what was passing.

"Oh, Norman!" Then springing up, with a sudden thought, "Mr. Ward! Oh!
is he there?"

"Yes," said Norman, in a low hopeless tone, "he was at the place. He
said it--"

"What?"

Again Norman's face was out of sight.

"Mamma?" Ethel's understanding perceived, but her mind refused to grasp
the extent of the calamity. There was no answer, save a convulsive
squeezing of her hand.

Fresh sounds below recalled her to speech and action.

"Where is she? What are they doing for her? What--"

"There's nothing to be done. She--when they lifted her up, she was--"

"Dead?"

"Dead."

The boy lay with his face hidden, the girl sat by him on the floor, too
much crushed for even the sensations belonging to grief, neither moving
nor looking. After an interval Norman spoke again, "The carriage turned
right over--her head struck on the kerb stone--"

"Did you see?" said Ethel presently.

"I saw them lift her up." He spoke at intervals, as he could get breath
and bear to utter the words. "And papa--he was stunned--but soon he
sat up, said he would go to her--he looked at her--felt her pulse, and
then--sank down over her!"

"And did you say