He pressed his hand upon his brow, looked vacantly round, and as if

impelled by a sudden thought, crossed the road, and entered the

sexton's house. He and his deaf assistant were sitting before the fire.

Both rose up, on seeing who it was.

The child made a hasty sign to them with his hand. It was the action

of an instant, but that, and the old man's look, were quite enough.

Do you - do you bury any one to-day)' he said, eagerly.

No, no! Who should we bury, Sir?' returned the sexton.

Aye, who indeed! I say with you, who indeed!'

It is a holiday with us, good Sir,' returned the sexton mildly. 'We have

no work to do to-day.'

Why then, I'll go where you will,' said the old man, turning to the

child. 'You're sure of what you tell me? You would not deceive me? I

am changed, even in the little time since you last saw me.'

Go thy ways with him, Sir,' cried the sexton, 'and Heaven be with ye

both!'

'I am quite ready,' said the old man, meekly. 'Come, boy, come - ' and

so submitted to be led away.

And now the bell - the bell she had so often heard, by night and day,

and listened to with solemn pleasure almost as a living voice - rung

its remorseless toll, for her, so young, so beautiful, so good. Decrepit

age, and vigorous life, and blooming youth, and helpless infancy,

poured forth - on crutches, in the pride of strength and health, in the

full blush of promise, in the mere dawn of life - to gather round her

tomb. Old men were there, whose eyes were dim and senses failing -

grandmothers, who might have died ten years ago, and still been old -

the deaf, the blind, the lame, the palsied, the living dead in many

shapes and forms, to see the closing of that early grave. What was the

death it would shut in, to that which still could crawl and creep above

it!

Along the crowded path they bore her now; pure as the newly-fallen

snow that covered it; whose day on earth had been as fleeting. Under

the porch, where she had sat when Heaven in its mercy brought her to

that peaceful spot, she passed again; and the old church received her

in its quiet shade.

They carried her to one old nook, where she had many and many a

time sat musing, and laid their burden softly on the pavement. The

The Old Curiosity Shop