er in tears. He attempted to put his arm around
her neck, but she repulsed him, and slipping away, retired to her
own chamber. Her mother soon after learned what had happened, and
going to EMMA, found her upon the bed in a paroxysm of grief. She
endeavored to soothe her feelings, but in vain; she refused to be
comforted. 'I want to _die_, mother,' she replied to all her
endearments; 'I have long felt that I was a burden to you all.'
She cried herself to sleep that night, and on the morrow was too
ill to rise. The doctor was called in, and warned the mother
against an approaching fever. For three days she remained in an
uncertain state; but on the fourth, the fever came in earnest, and
thenceforth she was confined to her pillow.

'In the mean time, the grief of WILLIAM had been more poignant
even than that of his sister. Thrice he had been to her bedside to
ask her forgiveness, and kiss once more her pallid cheek; but she
turned her face resolutely away, and refused to recognize him.
After these repulses he would slowly leave the room, and going to
his own chamber, sit brooding for hours over the melancholy
consequences of his rashness. Owing to the previous enfeebled
health of EMMA, the fever made rapid progress, and it soon became
apparent that she must die. WILLIAM, in consequence of the violent
aversion of his sister, had latterly been denied admittance to the
chamber, though he lingered all day about the door, eagerly
catching the least word in regard to her state, and apparently
unmindful of all other existence.

'One morning there was evidently a crisis approaching; for the
mother and attendants, hurrying softly in and out the sufferer's
chamber, in quick whispered words gave orders or imparted
intelligence to others. WILLIAM saw it all, and with the quick
instinct of affection, seemed to know what it foreboded. Taking
his little stool, therefore, he sat down beside the chamber-door,
and waited in silence. In the mean time, the mother stood over the
dying child, watching while a short unquiet slumber held her back
for a little while longer. Several times a sweet smile trembled
round the sufferer's lips, and her arms moved as if pressing
something to her bosom. Then she awoke, and fixing her eyes upon
her mother, whispered faintly, 'I thought WILLIAM was here.' A
stif