Page:Tales of my landlord (Volume 4).djvu/182

 of sweet-briar and honeysuckle, conducted to the back-door of a small garden. Jenny, undid the latch, and they passed through an old-fashioned flower-garden, with its clipped yew hedges and formal parterres, to a glass-sashed door, which she opened with a master key, and lighting a candle, which she placed upon a small work-table, asked pardon for leaving him there for a few minutes, until she prepared his apartment. She did not exceed five minutes in these preparations; but, when she returned, was startled to find that the stranger had sunk forward with his head upon the table, in what she at first apprehended to be a swoon. As she advanced to him, however, she could discover by his short-drawn sobs that it was a paroxysm of mental agony. She prudently drew back until he raised his head, and then shewing herself, without seeming to have observed his agitation, informed him, that his bed was prepared. The stranger gazed