An old-fashioned chest of drawers of polished oak, a dresser of pine wood and some rush-seated chairs had their places against the walls; but in the further corner stood the chief piece of furniture, and the one which drew the attention of the visitors with the most powerful attraction.

It was a large clumsy four-post bedstead, hung with blue and white homespun curtains, and covered with a gay patchwork quilt.

The curtains on both sides were drawn back, and the face and figure of the sleeper were in full view.

She lay as if under the influence of a narcotic, so still that her breathing could scarcely be distinguished.

Two or three days of intense suffering had given her the blanched shrunken look which generally comes from long illness; her face, comely and bright in health, was sunk and pallid, with black marks below the closed eyes; one hand stretched over the covers, held all through her sleep that of a little girl, her eldest child, who was half kneeling on a chair, half lying across the bed, with her head resting on the pillow.