My approach, though light, disturbed her. Opening her eyes, she gave
me one long, long look. Then, as if satisfied, she softly closed
them again, breathed a little sigh, and in another moment was no
more.




IV.

THE POLLARDS.


There's something in his soul,
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood.
--HAMLET.

Fearful as the experiences of this day had been, they were not yet
at an end for me. Indeed, the most remarkable were to come. As I sat
in this room of death--it was not far from midnight--I suddenly
heard voices at the door, and Mrs. Gannon came in with Dr. Farnham.

"It is very extraordinary," I heard him mutter as he crossed the
threshold. "One dying and another dead, and both struck down by the
same cause."

I could not imagine what he mean, so I looked at him with some
amazement. But he did not seem to heed me. Going straight to the
bed, he gazed silently at Ada's pure features, with what I could not