Three immense sleighs filled with a joyous and laughing party went down the avenue, bandying songs from one sleigh to the other. A horn was tooted repeatedly in one of the side streets, and there were louder and more frequent whistles from the river craft on both sides of the city. A pistol-shot rang out now and again. It was almost midnight on the last day of the old year; and the new year was to be greeted with the customary chorus of wild noises.
As the nurse turned from the window the doctor entered the room. She made her report briefly, and she told him that the old man's cough was worse, and that he seemed weaker.
While they were standing at the foot of the bed, the patient was seized with another paroxysm. He sat up, shaken by the violent effort—far more violent than any that had preceded it. He seemed to struggle vainly for relief, and then he dropped back limply on the pillows. The physician was at his side instantly, and laid a hand on his heart. There was a moment of silence, and the clock on the stairs began to strike twelve, its chimes mingling with the uproar made by the pistols and the horns and the steam-whistles out-doors.
"That's what I was afraid of," said the doctor at last. "I suspected that he had fatty degeneration of the heart."
"Is he—is he dead?" asked the nurse.
"Yes, he is dead."
But it was not for five or ten minutes that the shrill noises outside ceased.
| The following typographical errors were corrected by the etext transcriber: |
|---|
| perfume of geniune=>perfume of genuine |
| he griped the leader=>he gripped the leader |
| There where cheers=>There were cheers |