It was true as she had said; a ghastly corpse was before me.

I use the word ghastly, for it fully expresses the ugliness of that lifeless face, withered, marred, almost shorn of every true aspect of humanity.

I laid my hand upon her--the skin was cold.

I felt for her pulse, but there was no sign of motion in the arteries.
"It is over," I said, lifting myself from my brief examination, "and may God have mercy upon her soul!" The last part of the sentence was involuntary.
"Amen!" I felt that this response was no idle ejaculation.
"How was she affected ?" I asked.

"Has she been sick for any time?
Or did life go out suddenly ?" "It went out suddenly," replied the lady--"as suddenly as a lamp in the wind." "Was she excited from any cause ?" "She has been in an excited state ever since our arrival, although every thing that lay in our power has been done to quiet her mind and give it confidence and repose." She spoke calmly, as one, who held a controlling position there, and of right.