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Rh about. There is no wretchedness like the sight of these ordinary and common objects—that these frail, worthless garments should thus outlast their wearer! But the noise in the next room became distinct—heavy steps, suppressed but unfamiliar—a clink as of workman's tools—and then the harsh grating sounds: they were screwing down the coffin. She threw herself on her knees; she buried her head in the cushions of the chair in vain; her sense of hearing was acute to agony; every blow struck upon her heart; but the stillness that followed was even worse. She rushed into the next room: it was empty—the coffin was gone! The sound of wheels, unnoticed till now, echoed from the paved court-yard—the windows only looked towards the garden; but the voices of strangers, from whose very thought she shrank, prevented her stirring. Slowly one coach after another drove off; she held her breath to catch the last sound of the wheels. All in a few minutes was silence, like that of the grave to which they were journeying.

Emily suddenly remembered that one of the windows commanded a turn in the road. She