"It is almost over with her, poor soul! It would have saved time and trouble to take her to the plague-pit at once.

She cannot last many hours.

Curse the dog! Will it never cease howling ?" Leonard here seized Bell, fearing she might do some mischief, and with a sad foreboding beheld the man draw back the curtains of the litter.

His fears proved well founded.

There, stretched upon the couch, with her dark hair unbound, and flowing in wild disorder over her neck, lay Nizza Macascree.