hope, and letting her sink in the waves of despair. Perhaps, after all,
suspense is not the worst of all things to bear; for in suspense there
is hope, and in hope, life! Certain it is that a prop seemed withdrawn
from Nora, and from this day she rapidly sunk. She would not take to her
bed. Every morning she would insist upon rising and dressing, though
daily the effort was more difficult. Every day she would go to her wheel
and spin slowly and feebly, until by fatigue she was obliged to stop and
throw herself upon the bed. To all Hannah's anxious questions she
answered:

"I am very well! indeed there is nothing ails me; only I am so tired!"

One day about this time Reuben Gray called to see Hannah. Reuben was one
of the most discreet of lovers, never venturing to visit his beloved
more than once in each month.

"Look at Nora!" said Hannah, in a heart-broken tone, as she pointed to
her sister, who was sitting at her wheel, not spinning, but gazing from
the window down the narrow footpath, and apparently lost in mournful
reverie.

"I'll go and fetch a medical man," said Reuben, and he left the hut for
that purpose.

But distances from house to house in that sparsely settled neighborhood
were great, and doctors were few and could not be had the moment they
were called for. So it was not until the next day that Doctor Potts, the
round-bodied little medical attendant of the neighborhood, made his
appearance at the hut.