Ho stood with one hand as before, pressed upon his forehead, and pointed with the other to the door.

The wife, too, paused, for she could not doubt for a moment, that she heard sounds mingling with those of the storm which belonged not to it.

It was Christmas eve! "Stop, Mary," said he, the very current of his heart stilled--its beating pulses frozen, as it were, by the terrible apprehension--"stop, Mary; you can open the door, but in such a morning as this you couldn't shut it, and the wind and drift would come in and fill the house, and be the death of our boy.

No, I must open the door myself, and it will require all my strength to shut it." "I hear it all, now," said Torley, "the cries and the shouting, the screechings and the--well, you need not be afeared; put poor Brian in with me, for I know there is no Irishman but will respect a death-bed, be it landlord, or agent, ay, or bailey.

Oh, no, father, the hand of God is upon us, and if they respect nothing else, they will surely respect that.