The doctor stood helping his mother out. Ann was gathering up small articles from beside the driver. Jelly caught one glimpse of her mistress's face and fell back in alarm. Surely that look was the look of death! "She ought not to have come," murmured Dr. Rane in Jelly's ear. "Go and ask Seeley to step over--whilst I get my mother upstairs." There was bustle and confusion for the moment. Mrs. Cumberland was placed in the easy-chair in her room, and her bonnet and travelling wraps were removed. She refused to go to bed. In half-an-hour or so, when she had somewhat recovered the fatigue, she looked and seemed much better, and spoke a little, expressing a wish for some tea. The doctors left her to take it, enjoining strict quiet. Jelly was near her mistress, holding the cup and saucer. "What did she die of, Jelly?" came the unexpected question. "Who?" asked Jelly, wonderingly. Mrs. Cumberland motioned in the direction of her son's house: and her voice was subdued to faintness: "Bessy Rane." Jelly gave a start that almost upset the teacup. She felt her face grow white; but she could not move to conceal it. "Why don't you reply? What did she die of?" "Ma'am, don't you know? She caught the fever." "It troubles me, Jelly; it troubles me. I've done nothing but dream about her ever since. And what will Oliver do without her?" The best he can, Jelly had a great mind to answer. But all she said, was, to beg her mistress to leave these questions until the morning. "I don't think any morning will dawn for me," was Mrs. Cumberland's remark. "I sent you word I was coming home to die. I wanted to come for many reasons. I knew the journey would do me harm; I had put it off too long. But I had to come home: I could not die away from it." Every consoling thing that Jelly could think of, she said, assuring her mistress it was nothing but the journey that had brought her into this state of depression. "I want to see Mr. North," resumed Mrs. Cumberland. "You must bring him to me." "Not to-night," said Jelly. "To-night. At once. There is no time to be lost. To see him was one of the things I had to come home for." And Mrs. Cumberland, ill though she was, was as resolute in being obeyed as she had ever been in the days of her health. Jelly had the sense to know that refusal would excite her more than any result from compliance, and prepared to obey. As she passed out of the presence of Mrs. Cumberland, she saw Ellen Adair sitting on the stairs, anxiously listening for any sound from the sick-room that might tell how all was going on within it. "Oh, Miss Ellen! You should not be there." "I cannot rest anywhere, Jelly. I want to know how she is. She is my only friend on this side of the wide world." "Well now, Miss Ellen, look here--you may come in and stay with her, whilst I am away: I was going to call Ann. But mind you don't talk to her."