h voice as she possessed;
"I'm not afraid of it, and I don't think I shall die this time; but
I'm not going to have mistakes when I'm gone." This was on the eve
of the new year, and on the same night she asked Dorothy to write to
Brooke Burgess, and request him to come to Exeter. This was Dorothy's
letter:--

Exeter, 31st December, 186--.

MY DEAR MR. BURGESS,

Perhaps I ought to have written before, to say that Aunt
Stanbury is not as well as we could wish her; but, as I
know that you cannot very well leave your office, I have
thought it best not to say anything to frighten you. But
to-night Aunt herself has desired me to tell you that she
thinks you ought to know that she is ill, and that she
wishes you to come to Exeter for a day or two, if it is
possible. Sir Peter Mancrudy has been here every day
since Christmas-day, and I believe he thinks she may get
over it. It is chiefly in the throat;--what they call
bronchitis,--and she has got to be very weak with it, and
at the same time very liable to inflammation. So I know
that you will come if you can.

Yours very truly,

DOROTHY STANBURY.

Perhaps I ought to tell you that she had her lawyer here
with her the day before yesterday; but she does not seem
to think that she herself is in danger. I read to her a
good deal, and I think she is generally asleep; when I
stop she wakes, and I don't believe she gets any other
rest at all.

When it was known in Exeter that Brooke Burgess had been sent for,
then the opinion became general that Miss Stanbury's days were
numbered. Questions were asked of Sir Peter at every corner of the
street; but Sir Peter was a discreet man, who could answer such
questions without giving any information. If it so pleased God, his
patient would die; but it was quite possible that she might live.
That was the tenor of Sir Peter's replies,--and they were read in any
light, according to the idiosyncracies of the reader. Mrs. MacHugh
was quite sure that the danger was over, and had a little game of
cribbage on the sly with old Miss Wright;--for, during the severity
of Miss Stanbury's illness, whist was put on one side in the vicinity
of the Close. Barty Burgess was still obdurate, and shook his head.
He was of opinion that they might soon gratify their curiosity, and
see the last crowning iniquity of this wickedest of old women. Mrs.
Clifford declared that it was all i