sition had not been wholly unfavourable to Will, but he was a man of
unstable mind in his estimates of human character, and now he chiefly
occupied his thoughts with the offence of desertion from the army. The
disgrace of such an action magnified itself as he reflected upon Will's
unhappy deed.

Phoebe, meantime, succumbed and found herself a helpless prey of terrors
vague and innumerable. Will's fate she could not guess at; but she felt
it must be severe; she doubted not that his sentence would extend over
long years. In her dejection and misery she mourned for herself and
wondered what manner of babe would this be that now took substance
through a season of such gloom and accumulated sorrows. The thought
begat pity for the coming little one,--utmost commiseration that set
Phoebe's tears flowing anew,--and when the miller returned he found his
daughter stricken beyond measure and incoherent under her grief. But Mr.
Lyddon came back with a companion, and it was her husband, not her
father, who dried Phoebe's eyes and cheered her lonely heart. Will,
indeed, appeared and stood by her suddenly; and she heard his voice and
cried a loud thanksgiving and clasped him close.

Yet no occasion for rejoicing had brought about this unexpected
reappearance. Indeed, more ill-fortune was responsible for it. When Mr.
Lyddon arrived at Mrs. Blanchard's gate, he found both Will and Doctor
Parsons standing there, then learnt the incident that had prevented his
son-in-law's proposed action.

Passing that way himself some hours earlier, Will had been suddenly
surprised to see blue smoke rising from a chimney of the house. It was a
very considerable time before such event might reasonably be expected
and a second look alarmed Blanchard's heart, for on the little
chimney-stack he knew each pot, and it was not the kitchen chimney but
that of his mother's bedroom which now sent evidence of a newly lighted
fire into the morning.

In a second Will's plans and purposes were swept away before this
spectacle. A fire in a bedroom represented a circumstance almost outside
his experience. At least it indicated sickness unto death. He was in the
house a moment later, for the latch lifted at his touch; and when he
knocked at his mother's door and cried his name, she bade him come in.

"What's this? What's amiss with 'e, mother? Doan't say 't is anything
very bad. I seed the smoke an' my heart stood still."

She smiled and assured him her illness wa