Any further explanation on Amy’s part was prevented at that time by an unexpected message from the farm. Mrs. Somerton was seriously ill, and Luke had sent for his daughter, who went hurriedly to the bedroom which was set apart for her at the Hall, changed her dress, and obeyed her father’s summons. Mrs. Somerton had been ailing for several days. The shock which she had sustained by the news of her son’s imprisonment had been but little relieved by the intelligence of his release. She had persisted in thinking that his life was ruined. The taint of dishonesty, though it had only attached to him in imagination, was upon him. He could not hope, she thought, to make a name after that. Everything, she said, went wrong with them, and she was well punished. This had been the substance of her talk half the night when she should have been asleep, and in the morning, whilst Amy was acting her new part before Lord Verner, she had fallen from her chair, and her husband had carried her to bed. When Amy appeared at her bedside, the mother turned her head away sobbing and weeping. “I’m very ill, Amy,” she said, by-and-by, “very ill. The longest day will come to an end at last. I hope the doctor will be here soon.” “Dear mother, you must not give way so,” Amy said, kissing her forehead. “What shall I get for you?” “Nothing, nothing. There’s no salve for sores of the mind, my girl,” replied the sick woman. “Let me have a doctor soon,” and then she closed her eyes. It happened that Luke’s messenger to Avonworth met the doctor at the cross roads, returning from Berne; and he came therefore soon after Amy entered the room. Her mother looked at him eagerly as the doctor felt her pulse. “Is there any danger, doctor?” she asked earnestly; “shall I die? pray do not deceive me. I am not a young woman, and don’t expect to live longer than my time; but do tell me if it has come?” “There is no danger, I assure you,” said the doctor. “You have been excited lately, by some trouble perhaps--that affair of your son’s, which has come all right, I am glad to hear. Your greatest want is quiet and repose. You must not alarm or excite yourself: you will soon be better.” Amy and her father followed the doctor down-stairs to obtain a verification of this statement; and as they left her, Mrs. Somerton repeated slowly to herself, “quiet and repose.” CHAPTER II. CONTAINS IMPORTANT REVELATIONS, AND TERMINATES FATALLY. The next day Mrs. Somerton grew worse, and in the afternoon she insisted that she was dying. The doctor, on the contrary, insisted that she was not doing anything of the sort. In the afternoon she expressed a strong desire to see Mr. Christopher Tallant.