Martha start so suddenly that the slice of bread she was
toasting dropped from the fork upon the hot coals, where it was soon
reduced to ashes.
"Who can be pounding like that on such a night as this?" she asked, as
she hastened to open the hall-door, which admitted such a gust of wind
that she came near shutting it in Sam's face.
But the boy managed to crowd into the hall, and shaking a whole
snow-bank of snow from his cap and coat, he began:
"If you please, ma'am, old Mr. Jerrold is very bad indeed, and Miss
Hannah wants the minister to come right off. Mr. Burton Jerrold is out
in the sleigh, waiting for him, and says he must hurry."
"Mr. Sanford go out such a night as this! It's impossible! He is half
sick now. What does old Mr. Jerrold want?" Mrs. Sanford said, sharply;
and Sam replied, as he shook down another mass of snow upon the carpet:
"Don't know; the Sacrament, mebby, as I guess he's going to die," and
the boy advanced a step or two into the warmly lighted room, where the
rector, who had risen to his feet, was beginning to divest himself of
his dressing-gown.
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