"Come away then!" she murmured; and I saw her hand go to her heart,
in the way it did when she first entered the room a half-hour
before. But just then a sudden voice exclaimed below: "The
clergyman! It is the clergyman!" And giving a smothered shriek, she
grasped me by the arm, crying: "What do they say? '_The
clergyman_'? Do they say 'The clergyman'?"

"Yes," I answered, turning upon her with alarm. But she was already
at the door. "Can it be?" I asked myself, as I hurriedly followed,
"that it is Mr. Barrows she is going to marry?"

For in the small town of S---- Mr. Barrows was the only man who
could properly be meant by "The clergyman"; for though Mr. Kingston,
of the Baptist Church, was a worthy man in his way, and the
Congregational minister had an influence with his flock that was not
to be despised, Mr. Barrows, alone of all his fraternity, had so won
upon the affections and confidence of the people as to merit the
appellation of "The clergyman."

"If I am right," thought I, "God grant that no harm has come to
him!" and I dashed down the stairs just in time to see the frail
form of my room-mate flying out of the front door.

I overtook her at last; but where? Far out of town on that dark and
dismal road, where the gaunt chimneys of the deserted mill rise from
a growth of pine-trees. But I knew before I reached her what she
would find; knew that her short dream of love was over, and that
stretched amongst the weeds which choked the entrance to the old
mill lay the dead form of the revered young minister, who, by his