was his wont; once she fancied he was praying, and dropping on her
knees, she also prayed fervently, and perhaps acceptably; then, all at
once, the Doctor called out, in a loud voice, "No, Ned, no. Drop it,
drop it!"

And then there was an utter silence, unbroken forevermore by the lips
that had uttered so many objectionable things.

And finally, after an interval which had been prescribed by the grim
Doctor, a messenger was sent by the lawyer to our friend Ned, to inform
him of this sad event, and to bring him back temporarily to town, for
the purpose of hearing what were his prospects, and what disposition
was now to be made of him. We shall not attempt to describe the grief,
astonishment, and almost incredulity of Ned, on discovering that a
person so mixed up with and built into his whole life as the stalwart
Doctor Grimshawe had vanished out of it thus unexpectedly, like
something thin as a vapor,--like a red flame, that one [instant] is
very bright in its lurid ray, and then is nothing at all, amid the
darkness. To the poor boy's still further grief and astonishment, he
found, on reaching the spot that he called home, that little Elsie (as
the lawyer gave him to understand, by the express orders of the Doctor,
and for reasons of great weight) had been conveyed away by a person
under whose guardianship she was placed, and that Ned could not be
informed of the place. Even crusty Hannah had been provided for and
disposed of, and was no longer to be found. Mr. Pickering explained to
Ned the dispositions in his favor which had been made by his deceased
friend, who, out of a moderate property, had left him the means of
obtaining as complete an education as the country would afford, and of
supporting himself until his own exertions would be likely to give him
the success which his abilities were calculated to win. The remainder