Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/208

 and I did not knock; but at last I did, and the sound came back to me so hollow and strange that I thought the house must be deserted and empty.

"There was a long silence, and then I heard the shuffling of feet inside, and old Landlord Nurse himself opened the door for me. Oh, grandmother! I thought I should scream when I saw him; he is so changed, you would not know him—his flesh has all fallen away; he is sunken, and all bent over on a cane, and his eyes looked so glassy and bewildered and winking, as if he had wept the very sight out of them."

"Puir auld mon! I dare say; I suppose he is jist fairly dementit wi' the sorrow."

"I could not speak a word to him—I only held out my hand to him, and broke down, crying. I could not help it; but I think he knew me, and knew what I felt, for he squeezed my hand hard in his, and laid the other on my head; and then without a word he led me into the room where his daughter Sarah was sitting all alone, and oh! so sad. She held out her arms to me, and I tried to tell her what I felt, but we both broke down,