That cry of anguish was no supernatural echo of past suffering, but the despairing shriek of some victim of modern cruelty.

A poor relation of Stephen's perhaps--a helpless, mindless creature, whose infirmities had been thus hidden from the world.

Such things have been too cruelly common in our fair free country.
Ellen laid her husband's head gently down upon the grass and sprang to her feet.
"In which room ?" she cried.

But there was no answer.

The man lay with closed eyes--dying perhaps--but she could do nothing for him till medical help came.