nces now addressed to her by
her husband, had so far a good effect, that they softened her despair
to tears. Long and unrestrainedly did she weep upon his shoulder;
tried to comfort him by the assurance that _she_ was comforted, or at
least that she would endeavour to _seek_ comfort from the protection
and goodness whence it had been so often derived.

A few minutes afterwards, having been persuaded by Everard to rest
herself on the sofa, to recover the effects of the agitation his
indiscreet communication had excited, she suddenly complained of cold,
and begged him to close the windows. It was a balmy April day, with a
genial sun shining fresh into the room. The air was as the air of
midsummer--one of those days on which you almost see the small green
leaves of spring bursting from their shelly covering, and the resinous
buds of the chestnut-trees expanding into maturity. Poor Everard saw
at once that the chilliness of which his wife complained must be the
effect of illness. More cautious, however, on this occasion than
before, he enquired, as her shivering increased, what preparations she
had made for the events which still left her some weeks for execution.
"None. His sisters had kindly undertaken to supply her with all she
might require; and the services of the nurse accustomed to attend his
married sister, were engaged on her behalf. At the end of the month
this woman was to arrive at Lexley, bringing with her the wardrobe of
the little treasure who was to accord renewed peace and happiness to
its mother."

Though careful to conceal his anxiety from his wife, Everard Sparks,
disappointed and distressed, quitted the room in haste to send for the
medical man who had long been the attendant of his family. But before
he arrived, the shivering fit of the poor sufferer had increased to an
alarming degree. A calming potion was administered, and orders issued
that she was to be kept quiet; but in the consternation created in the
little household by the communication Dr R. thought it necessary to
make of the possibility of a premature confinement, poor Mrs Sparks's
maid, a young inexperienced woman, dispatched a messenger to my house
for her old kinswoman, and it was through Barbara I became acquainted
with the melancholy incidents I am about to relate.

The sedatives administered failed in their effect. A fatal shock had
been already given; and while struggling through that direful night
with the increasing pangs that v