420 THE MAN WITH THE . 



My companion took all in at a glance, and a pallid whiteness 

 usurped the place of his healthy complexion. " This is a misery/' 

 said he, emphatically, as his vision dwelt upon the scene. f( I can 

 scarcely credit it now " then turning to the widow, he said, " woman, 

 how came all this about ? Don't be periphrastical." 



Her tale was soon narrated. It was the old sad story yet not 

 a whit the less heart-breaking for that her husband dead, poverty 

 and distress ensuing. 



(f After this," (her husband's death and that of her younger daugh- 

 ter) she continued, " nothing went right ; my landlord grew impatient 

 for his rent he knew we had not a friend in the world to relieve us 

 money became every day scarcer, and at length my remaining 

 child my sweet Mary sunk upon a bed of sickness. Would you 

 believe it, sir ! Five days afterwards, that bed was taken from under 

 her by the broker for my arrears of rent and taxes, together with 

 every piece of furniture in the house. My last shilling was wrung 

 from me by the doctor and undertaker who attended poor Emma, 

 and now we are destitute of medicine. food fire or the means to 

 procure either." 



" And why not apply to the doctor who attended your other daugh- 

 ter ?" questioned the man in canvas. 



" He refused to attend without a fee ; adding that there was the 

 parish surgeon for paupers," answered the widow, weeping. 



The poor widow sunk at the foot of the straw bed with tear -bathed 

 eyes and cheeks ; I endeavoured to console her, during which the 

 man in canvas seated himself by the invalid, and took her hand in one 

 of his, and with the other gently parted the black locks that shaded 

 her blanched brow. 



" Death has taken his abode there," said she, sadly and faintly. 

 " Tush, tush ! " he replied, in the tenderest voice imaginable 

 " you must not die, deary," and he gazed cheeringly and kindly upon 

 her. 



" There is no hope ! " returned Mary, with an expression and tone 

 of blended inquiry and assertion, as she raised her eyes tranquilly to 

 his face. 



Meeting her look with of open an almost paternal smile, he 

 responded, ft No hope ! yes, yes ; search your heart, and you will 

 find the goddess lingering there still ; and if not, raise a phantom of 

 your own ; trick it with wings and anchor, and call it Hope come 

 come, take comfort ; the same POWER that recalled the widow's son to 

 life, can restore a widow's daughter to health." With these words the 

 speaker relinquished Mary's hands, and rising, inquired the doctor's 

 address. A large house opposite the widow's cottage was pointed 

 out, and the man in canvas immediately taking my arm, strode up to 

 it, and played a sesarara with the knocker in a style of execution 

 which a London footman might have despaired to equal ; in a mo- 

 ment the door was opened, and a burly porter with inquiring eyes 

 filled up the entrance. 



" I want your master," said my companion, laconically. 

 " Ugh ! Eh !" growled the rotund gentleman in livery, gazing 

 with " all his eyes." 



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