babe was ill, that was
no reason why his father's meals should be neglected, and because
the mother was overwrought, he was not disposed to relieve her of
the duties to the pigs and cows save on this one occasion.

That the poor little infant was really more at ease was obvious to
the mother's watchful eye and anxious heart, but whether this were
due to its malady, whatever that was, having taken a felicitous
turn, or to mere exhaustion of powers, she was unable to decide,
and her fears almost overbalanced her hopes.

She retired to sleep that night without much expectation of being
able to obtain sleep. Her nerves were overstrung, and at times
thought in her mind came to a standstill; it was as though a
sudden hush came on all within her, so that neither did heart
beat nor breath come. But for these pauses, her mind might have
given way, a string have snapped, and her faculties have fallen
into disorder.

It is said of Talleyrand that he needed no sleep, as his pulse
ceased to beat after a certain number of strokes, for a brief
space, and then resumed pulsation. During that pause, his physical
and mental powers had time for recuperation. Be that as it may, it
is certain that to some persons whose minds and feelings are put
to extraordinary tension, greatly prolonged, there do come these
halts in which all is blank, the brain ceases to think, and the
heart to feel, and such gaps in the sequence of thought and emotion
have a salutary effect.

Mehetabel did not undress. She had not put off her clothing for
several nights. The night was cold, and she would probably have
to be incessantly on the move, to meet the little sufferer's
necessities, as they arose, and to watch it, whenever her fears
prevailed over her hopes, and made her think that a protracted
quiet was ominous.

The only light in the room emanated from a smouldering rush,
sustained in a tall iron holder, the lower end of which was planted
in a block of oak, and stood on the floor. Such holders, now
become very scarce, were furnished with snuffers, so contrived
that the rushlight had to be taken out of its socket and snuffed
by them, instead of their being brought to the rush.

Of rushlights there were two kinds, one, the simplest, consisted
of a dry rush dipped in a little grease. The light emitted from
such a candle was feeble in the extreme. The second, a superior
rushlight, had the rush pealed of its bark with the exception of
one small strip which