" She's going," he said, aside to Flitter. " Send for ono
of the women next door, and get somebody else to run after
the doctor. Tt's of no use, but he had better be here."



THE POTTLETON LEOACT, 19

Tlie other departed, as the girl raised the head of the
patient against her bosom with one arm, and with the other
seized the hand lying on the bedclothes.
"Aunt!" she cried — "AuntMilly! do speak to me. It
is only Annie."

Whether it was that the well-known voice recalled for an
instant the sense of departing life, or that, just at the moment
the expiring light gave its last flicker, cannot be told. But
the dying female opened her eyes and turned them towards
the girl, and then slightly moved her other hand, which had
been hidden beneath the turn-down of the thin worn sheet.
Annie, as we may now call her, threw back the cover, and
saw that she clutched a folded paper tightly. As this vms
done, the girl felt the weight heavier on her arm — more dead,
as it is expressively termed. The eyes were still wide open
and turned towards her, but an instant had served to cast a
dull glaze over them; then the mouth slightly opened, and
the hands moved no more.
" She is gone!" said Sherrard, through his teeth, as he
watched this short closing scene.
With a look of mingled agony and terror, the girl allowed
the head to fall back upon the pillow, carefully though, as if
she still feared to disturb it. And then she again called out
the name, but this time in sharper and more intense accents.
The eyes were still w^ide open, but there was no reply.
