tea, locked her room-door, and retired to bed. There she lay,
tossing from side to side--she could not sleep--her anxiety respecting her
father's safety; her fears, lest in the delirium of fever McCloskey should
discover their secret, kept her awake far into the night, and the city
clocks struck two ere she fell asleep.

When she awoke in the morning the sun was shining brightly into her room;
for a few moments she could not realize where she was; but the events of
the past night soon came freshly to her; looking at her watch, she
remembered that she was to go to the hospital at ten, and it was already
half-past nine; her wakefulness the previous night having caused her to
sleep much later than her usual hour.

Dressing herself in haste, she hurried down to breakfast; and after having
eaten a slight meal, ordered a carriage, and drove to the hospital.

The janitor was in his accustomed seat, and nodded smilingly to her as she
entered. He beckoned her to him, and whispered, "I inquired about him.
McCloskey, fever-ward, No. 21, died this morning at two o'clock and forty
minutes."

"Dead!" echoed Lizzie, with a start of horror.

"Yes, dead," repeated he, with a complacent look; "any relation of
yours--want an order for the body?"

Lizzie was so astounded by this intelligence, that she could not reply; and
the old man continued mysteriously. "Came to before he died--wish he
hadn't--put me to a deal of trouble--sent for a magistrate--then for a
minister--had something on his mind--couldn't die without telling it, you
know; then there was oaths, depositions--so much trouble. Are you his
relation--want an order for the body?"

"Oaths! magistrate!--a confession no doubt," thought Lizzie; her limbs
trembled; she was so overcome with terror that she could scarcely stand;
clinging to the railing of the desk by which she was standing for support,
she asked, hesitatingly, "He had something to confess then?"

The janitor looked at her for a few moments attentively, and seemed to
notice for the first time her ladylike appearance and manners; a sort of
reserve crept over him at the conclusion of his scrutiny, for he made no
answer to her question, but simply asked, with more formality than before,
"Are you a relation--do you want an order for the body?"

Ere Lizzie could answer his question, a man, plainly dressed, with keen
grey eyes that seemed to look restlessly about in every corner of the room,
came and stood beside the j