something,' he went on feebly, 'or try to get me into the barrow.'

But Vannicock had called to the driver of the fly, and they waited until
it was brought on from the turnpike hard by. Mr. Maumbry was placed
therein. Laura entered with him, and they drove to his humble residence
near the Cross, where he was got upstairs.

Vannicock stood outside by the empty fly awhile, but Laura did not
reappear. He thereupon entered the fly and told the driver to take him
back to Ivell.



CHAPTER VII


Mr. Maumbry had over-exerted himself in the relief of the suffering poor,
and fell a victim--one of the last--to the pestilence which had carried
off so many. Two days later he lay in his coffin.

Laura was in the room below. A servant brought in some letters, and she
glanced them over. One was the note from herself to Maumbry, informing
him that she was unable to endure life with him any longer and was about
to elope with Vannicock. Having read the letter she took it upstairs to
where the dead man was, and slipped it into his coffin. The next day she
buried him.

She was now free.

She shut up his house at Durnover Cross and returned to her lodgings at