her terrible realities, and she couldn't bring herself to believe that
her brother would threaten to make use of such horrible engines of
persecution, without having the power to bring them into action. Then,
visions of the lunatic asylum, into which he had declared that he would
throw her, flitted across her, and made her whole body shiver and
shake; and again she remembered the horrid glare of his eye, the hot
breath, and the frightful form of his visage, on the night when he
almost told her that he would murder her.

Poor Anty had at no time high or enduring spirits, but such as she
had were now completely quelled. A dreadful feeling of coming evil--a
foreboding of misery, such as will sometimes overwhelm stronger minds
than Anty's, seemed to stifle her; and she continued sobbing till she
fell into hysterics, when Meg and Jane were summoned to her assistance.
They sat with her for above an hour, doing all that kindness and
affection could suggest; but after a time Anty told them that she had a
cold, sick feeling within herself, that she felt weak and ill, and that
she'd sooner go to bed. To bed they accordingly took her; and Sally
brought her tea, and Katty lighted a fire in her room, and Jane read to
her an edifying article from the lives of the Saints, and Meg argued
with her as to the folly of being frightened. But it was all of no
avail; before night, Anty was really ill.

The next morning, the widow was obliged to own to herself that such was
the case. In the afternoon, Doctor Colligan was called in; and it was
many, many weeks before Anty recovered from the effects of the
attorney's visit.