"
But she was up and waiting for him, in her purple flannel dressing-gown,
which did not improve her ruddy complexion, and a frown on her face,
which deepened into a scowl as he came in and she saw the condition of
his boots and the lower part of his pants.
"Charles Sanford," she began, "do you mean to say you walked, and do you
know what time it is?"
"Yes, Martha," he answered, meekly, "it is very late, but I could not
help it, and I insisted upon walking rather than have the tired,
sleeping boy come out in the cold. I needed the exercise. I am not
cold."
"But you _have_ taken cold. You needn't tell me, and I've got the water
ready for a foot-bath, and some hot boneset tea. How did you leave Mr.
Jerrold? and did he take the sacrament at last?" she said, and he
replied:
"No, he did not; he--"
But before he could say more she burst out with growing irritability:
"Not take it! Why then did he send for you on such a night, and why did
you stay so long?"
She was pouring the boiling water into the foot-tub, in which she had
put a preparation of mustard and prickly ash and red pepper, which she
kept on hand for extreme cases like this, and the odor of the steam made
him sick and faint, as, grasping the mantel, he replied:
"He wished me to pray with him; he will not live till morning.
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