Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. I, 1889.djvu/103

 Tom on the mattress. In a quarter of an hour the candle was extinguished, and but for the wind, which rattled sashes and doors, and made ghostly sounds in the chimneys, there was silence throughout the house.

Something awoke Clara before dawn. She sat up, and became aware that Jane was talking and crying wildly, evidently re-acting in her sleep the scene of a few hours ago. With difficulty Clara broke her slumber.

"Don't you feel well, Jane?" she asked, noticing a strangeness in the child's way of replying to her.

"Not very, miss. My head's bad, an' I'm so thirsty. May I drink out of the jug, miss?"

"Stay where you are. I'll bring it to you."

Jane drank a great deal. Presently she fell again into slumber, which was again broken in the same way. Clara did not go to sleep, and as soon as it was daylight she summoned her father to come and look at the child. Jane was ill, and, as every one could see, rapidly grew worse.