Agnes still held on to Ann, and pleaded!
"May I not go too, Aunt Patience?"
"No, my child, one of us is enough."
Still she would not let go of Ann's hand.
"Kiss me, dear," she said; and Ann stooped and kissed her.
It was so long since any lips had touched hers that it brought tears to her eyes.
"Wait here," she said, "I will come back." And she passed into the room with Patience.
It is curious how, in times of great excitement, we see everything so clearly; even the smallest details strike us. Patience noted that the first room they entered was comparatively well furnished and spotlessly clean. It was evidently the living room, with tables and chairs, a dresser, and a few articles of luxury which had been brought from the old home. They passed through this into another room, which served as bed-room for Ann and her mother. There was a small fire in the hearth, notwithstanding the great heat. Ann pointed to it.
"The doctor told me to have it always, to purify the air," she said.
A great four-poster bed of carved oak occupied the middle of the room. It had once been curtained round, but the curtains were gone now, and Patience saw, lying upon the white pillows, a face which might well have been that of a dead woman.