Two or three of the beds were empty, and their recent occupants were sitting beside them, but with faces so wan, and eyes so bright and glassy, that it was fearful to meet their gaze.

On every face was stamped the expression of anguish and suffering.
The object of the visit was lying at the upper end of the room.

She was a fine young woman of about two or three and twenty.

Her long black hair, which had been hastily cut from near the wounds on her head, streamed over the pillow in jagged and matted locks.

Her face bore deep marks of the ill-usage she had received: her hand was pressed upon her side, as if her chief pain were there; her breathing was short and heavy; and it was plain to see that she was dying fast.