"One strange thing now comes so soon after another, that I get quite bewildered, but I suppose after a while things will settle down, and we shall be as quiet as ever. It is this evangelical religion that is doing all the mischief. What a pity that our Maker does not, somehow or another, put a stop to it."
"But, ma', people can't die in peace without it, though they can live without it. How will you account for this?"
"I don't know, as I never studied the subject; and I wish you would banish it from your mind, and talk about something else."
"I may talk about something else, ma', but to banish it from my mind is more than I am able to do."
The conversation was interrupted by the entrance of the Rev. Mr. Cole.
"We were just talking about this strange case of Miss Amelia Stubbs. How unpolite in her to tell you that the administration of the sacrament and absolution was a great delusion, when it is the very thing our church prescribes to fit a dying person for heaven!"
"Ay, she is to be pitied. Her mind is affected."
"So I believe, and so I have said. Is she likely to get any better before death?"
"No, Madam; there is no chance of that now, as Mr. Ingleby has her under his care."
"I think," said Miss Denham, "she is scarcely to be pitied. She is as calm and as collected as when in perfect health, and appears so happy when speaking of the bliss she expects to enjoy after death. She says she would rather die than live."