But the passage of each moment brought plainer and more palpable evidence of approaching dissolution.  For about ten minutes he had lain so still, that they were suddenly aroused by the fear that he might be already dead Softly did the mother lay her hand upon his forehead.  Its cold and clammy touch sent an icy thrill to her heart Then she bent her ear to catch even the feeblest breath—­but she could distinguish none.

“He is dead!” she murmured, sinking down and burying her face in the bed-clothes.

The cup of their sorrow was, at last, full—­full and running over!

THE RUINED FAMILY

PART SECOND.

STUNNED by this new affliction, which seemed harder to bear than any of the terrible ones that had gone before, Mrs. Graham sunk into a state of half unconsciousness; but Anna still lingered over the insensible body of her brother, and though reason told her that the spirit had taken its everlasting departure, her heart still hoped that it might not be so,—­that a spark yet remained which would rekindle.

The pressure of her warm hand upon his cold, damp forehead, mocked her hopes.  His motionless chest told of the vanity of her fond anticipations of seeing his heart again quicken into living activity.  And yet, she could not give him up.  She could not believe that he was dead.  As she still hung over him, it seemed to her that there was a slight twitching of the muscles about the neck.  How suddenly did her heart bound and throb until its strong pulsations pained her!  Eagerly did she bend down upon him, watching for some more palpable sign of returning animation.  But nothing met either her eye or her ear that strengthened the newly awakened hope.

After waiting, vainly, for some minutes, until the feeble hope she had entertained began to fail, Anna stepped quickly to the mantelpiece, and lifted from it a small looking-glass, with which she returned to the bedside.  Holding this close to the face of her brother, she watched the surface with an eager anxiety that almost caused the beating of her heart to cease.  As a slight mist slowly gathered upon the glass and obscured its surface, Anna cried out with a voice that thrilled the bosoms of her mother and sister—­

“He lives! he lives!” and gave way to a gush of tears.

This sudden exclamation, of course, brought Mrs. Graham and Mary to the bedside, who instantly comprehended the experiment which Anna had been making and understood the result.  The mother, in turn, with trembling hands, lifted the mirror, and held it close to the face of her son.  In a moment or two, its surface was obscured, plainly indicating that respiration, though almost imperceptible, was still going on,—­that life still lingered in the feeble body before them.