He did not wish to be severe, but it was well known that the woman at whose death-bed he was standing, was fallen.

At the close of such a life, it was only his duty to speak of sin and its bitter consequences.

Marianne's eyes began to wander uneasily as she turned them, now on the clergyman, and now on Torpander.

At length she made an effort, and turned her face in the other direction.
The pastor did not intend to finish his discourse without holding out a hope of reconciliation with God, even after such a life of sin; but while he continued speaking about repentance and forgiveness, the neighbour, who had been at her dinner, entered the room.
The woman went to the foot of the bed, but when she looked at Marianne's face she said quietly, "I beg your pardon, sir, but she is dead." "Dead!" said the minister, rising hastily from his chair.

"It is most extraordinary!" He took up his hat, said good-bye, and left the room.
The woman took Marianne's hands and folded them decently across her breast; she then put her arms under the bedclothes and straightened the legs, so that the corpse should not stiffen with the knees bent.