"
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Panney; "he never told you that."
"That's the pint of what I got out of him, and you know, Miss Panney,
that that garret's hanted."
Miss Panney wasted no words in attempting to disprove this assertion.
"He found her asleep on the floor?" said she.
"Yes, Miss Panney," answered Phoebe, "dead asleep, or more likely, to my
mind, in a dead faint, among all the drafts and chills of that garret,
and in her stockin' feet. She had tuk up a candle with her, but I'spect
the skeleton blowed it out. And now she's got an awful cold, so she can
scarcely breathe, and a fever hot enough to roast an egg."
At this moment Ralph appeared in the hall. The visitor immediately went
up to him.
"Mr. Haverley, I suppose. I am Miss Panney. I am a neighbor, and I came
to see if I could do anything for your sister before the doctor arrives.
I am a good nurse, and know all about sicknesses;" and she explained why
she had come and the doctor had not.
When Miriam turned her head and saw the black eyes of Miss Panney gazing
down upon her, she pushed herself back in the bed, and exclaimed,--
"Are you his wife?"
"No, indeed," said Miss Panney, "I wouldn't marry him for a thousand
pounds.
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