“Is anything the matter at home, Anna?” said Mr. Weston, “Is Cousin Janet—?”

“Cousin Janet is well, my dear brother,” said Mrs. Weston.  “I was very thoughtless, but our dear neighbor, Mrs. Kent, is no more.”

“Can it be possible?” said Mr. Weston, much agitated.  “Read the letter aloud.”

Mrs. Weston, turned to the beginning, and read aloud,

    “MY DEAR ANNA: 

“The time is near which will bring you all in health and happiness, I trust, to your home; and could you see how lovely it looks, I think you would be tempted to fix upon an earlier day.  You see how selfish I am, but I confess that I quite count the days, as a child does to Christmas, and am ashamed of my impatience.

“Throughout the winter I had no care.  My kind friends did all the housekeeping, and the servants in the house, and on the plantation, were so faithful, that I feel indebted to all who have made my time so easy; and your absence has not, I am sure, been attended with any ill effects, without you find me a little cross and complaining, and Mr. Barbour out of his senses with joy, on your return.  Good Mr. Barbour! he has superintended and encouraged the servants, and visited us forlorn ladies frequently, so that he must come in for a portion of our thanks too.

“You will perhaps think I ought only to write you cheerful news, but it is best to let you know as well as I can, the condition that you will find us in, on your return.  Phillis is the only one of us, whose concerns are of any immediate importance, but I am sorry to have to tell you that she is now seriously indisposed.  Her cough has never really yielded—­her other symptoms have varied; but for the last few weeks, her disease has not only progressed, but assumed a certain form.  She is in consumption, and has no doubt inherited the disease from her mother.

“I have, throughout the winter, felt great anxiety about her, and have not permitted her to work, though sometimes I found it hard to prevent her.  Her children have been constantly with her; indeed, I have passed a great deal of my own time in her cabin, which, under Martha’s superintendence, is so neat and comfortable.

“You will all perhaps blame me that I have not been thus plain with you before, but Dr. Lawton said it was not necessary, as she has never been in any immediate danger, and Phillis would not consent to my doing so.  She wanted you to enjoy yourselves, and Alice to have a good chance to regain her health.  ’No doubt, Miss Janet,’ she said, ’the Lord will spare me to see them yet, and I have every thing I want now—­they couldn’t stop my pains any more than you, and I feel that I am in the Lord’s hands, and I am content to be.’  She has not been confined to her bed, but is fast losing strength, though from my window now I see her tying up her roses, that are beginning to bud.  Some other hand than hers will care