While I was thinking over these speculations, a step in the hall, and the rich, heavy rustle of those old silks that our grandmothers were so proud of, disturbed me. The door opened, and an old lady, very old indeed, came into the room. I stood up involuntarily, for the person of this old lady was so imposing, that it exacted a degree of homage which I had never felt before. I can imagine a figure like that, wandering through the vast picture-galleries of some fine English castle, and there I should have given her a title at first sight. As it was, her person struck me with amazement. Not that it was out of keeping with the premises, but because this lady was altogether a grander and older person than I had expected to see in that house. She received my salutation with a slow curtsy, very slight and dignified in its movement, and, advancing to a huge, crimson easy-chair that stood near the work-table, sat down. "My daughter is in her son's room," she said, in a soft and measured voice, glancing at me with her placid eyes. "He is very ill, and we are frightened about him." "Is not this sudden?" I inquired. "Yes, very; we don't know what to make of it. He is always so healthy and so cheerful; something has gone wrong with him, Miss Hyde." She looked at me earnestly, as if expecting that I would explain the something which was beyond her understanding. I felt myself blushing. It was not for me to speak of Jessie's affairs to any one, certainly not in a case like this. The old lady dropped her eyes, and, taking her knitting-case from the basket, laid it in her lap, evidently disposed to give me time. At length she spoke again. "My grandson has enjoyed himself so much since we came to the country, especially since his friend, Mr. Lawrence, arrived; and now to have him struck down all at once--it is disheartening!" "Is he so very ill?" I inquired. "He has been restless and excited, more or less, for a week or more, but during the last three days has fallen seriously ill. Now he is entirely out of his head; my daughter sat up with him all last night; the doctor was here this morning. He pronounces it a brain-fever." I was really disturbed. She saw it and went on. "He asked for you three or four times during the night; and--and for another person whom we could not venture to invite here." "I am glad you sent for me," I replied, anxious to waive all explanation. "At home they consider me a tolerable nurse." She looked at me seriously a moment, and then said, in a gentle, impressive way,-- "Miss Hyde, be kind to an old woman who has nothing but the good of her child at heart, and tell me if Miss Lee has--has repulsed my grandson?" "No, not that, madam; but, but--" "She has rejected him, I see it by your face; I suspected it from his wanderings," she said, sorrowfully. I was silent; the mournful accents of her voice touched my heart.