He then approached his sister's senseless form, and, taking her wrist tenderly, felt for her pulse.

We looked on in the deepest anxiety.

The Challoner girls shivered with terror, and began to cry.

Mrs.Everard, with more self-possession, dipped a handkerchief in cold water and laid it on Zara's temples; but no faint sigh parted the set yet smiling lips--no sign of life was visible.

All this while the rain swept down in gusty torrents and rattled furiously against the window-panes; while the wind, no longer a moan, had risen into a shriek, as of baffled yet vindictive anger.