"I wish Caleb didn't go off," said w.i.l.l.y; "he was a-going to give me a rabbit."

"Well," said Stephen, in a teasing tone, "he wouldn't have gone off if it hadn't been for you, Master w.i.l.l.y! You said he wanted father's money, you know, and that was what put us to thinking."

"O, yes, he telled me he wanted it," cried the little fellow stoutly.

"w.i.l.l.y, w.i.l.l.y, you should be more careful in repeating other people's words," said Mrs. Parlin, looking up from the jacket she was making.

"Little boys like you are so apt to make mistakes, that they ought to say, 'Perhaps,' or, 'I think so,' and never be too sure."

"Then I'm not sure; but _perhaps_ I know, and I _guess_ I think so real hard."

"That's right, little p.a.w.nee Indian," laughed Stephen. "Indians like you always stick fast to an idea when they once get hold of it."

"I'm not an Indian," said w.i.l.l.y, ready to cry; "and I never said Caleb stealed; 'twas you said so; you know you did."

It grew very cold that winter, about "Christmas-tide," and one night the wind howled and shrieked, while up in the sky the moon and stars seemed to shiver and shine like so many icicles. w.i.l.l.y had been put to bed at the usual time, and nicely tucked in, and it was nearly half past eight, the time for him to begin his wanderings. Lydia sat by the kitchen fireplace, comforting herself with hot ginger tea.

"It would be too bad for that little creetur to get out of bed such a night as this," thought she; "I'm going in to see if he has enough clothes on. Who knows but his dear little nose is about _fruz_ off by this time?"

So she stole into the bedroom, which opened out of the kitchen, took a peep at her beloved w.i.l.l.y, made sure his nose was safe, and turned down the coverlet to see if his hands were warm.

"Poor, sweet little lamb! Not much cold now; but thee will be cold; this room is just like a barn."

Then, as "Liddy" went back to the kitchen, she wondered if it might not be the cold weather that made w.i.l.l.y have what she called his "walking-spells."

"For he is so much worse in winter than he is in summer," thought she.

"Any way, I'm going to try, and see if I can't put a stop to it to-night; and then, if the _expeeriment_ works, I'll try it again."

What "expeeriment"? You will soon see. There had been a quant.i.ty of charcoal put on the kitchen fire to broil some steak for travellers; so the kind-hearted Liddy bustled about on tiptoe, filled a shallow pan with some of the coals, "piping hot," and placed it very near the trundle-bed, on Mrs. Parlin's foot-stove.

Alas for Liddy's ignorance! she was always rather foolish in her fondness for w.i.l.l.y; but didn't she know any better than to put a dish of red coals so near him in a small room, and then go out and shut the door? She often said she didn't "see any use in all this book-larning,"

and wondered Mrs. Parlin should be so anxious to have her children go to school. In her whole life Liddy had never attended school more than six months; and as for chemistry and philosophy she knew nothing about them except that they are hard words to spell. She did not dream that there was a deadly gas rising every moment from that charcoal, and that her darling w.i.l.l.y was breathing it into his lungs. She may have heard of the word "gas," but if she had she supposed it was some sort of "airy nothing" not worth mentioning.

Of course _you_ know that if she had hated w.i.l.l.y, and wished to murder him, she could hardly have chosen a surer way than this; but poor Liddy went back to the kitchen with a smiling face, feeling well pleased with her "_expeeriment_," and began to chop a hash of beef, pork, and all sorts of vegetables, for to-morrow's breakfast.

After a little while w.i.l.l.y began to toss about uneasily; but he did not come out of the room and Liddy was delighted. She had said she meant to put a stop to that; and so, indeed, she had,--for this time at least.

The dear child had not strength enough to get out of bed, and moaned as if a heavy hand were clutching at his throat. In fact he was suffocating. It is frightful to think of! Was n.o.body coming to save him?

The chilly teamsters had some time ago crowded into the bar-room with frost on their hair and whiskers; but the frost was fast turning to steam as they drank the cider which John, the new hired man, heated with the red-hot loggerhead. Dr. Hilton had set out the little red chair, and somebody would have wondered why w.i.l.l.y did not come in, if the men had not all been so busy telling stories that they did not have time to think of anything else.

It was now nearly nine, and Mrs. Parlin and Love were in the sitting-room sewing by the light of two tallow candles.

"Isn't it the coldest night we've had this year, mother?"

"Yes, dear, I think it is. You know what the old ditty says,--

'When the days begin to lengthen, The cold begins to strengthen.'

"I do wish dear little w.i.l.l.y would stay in his bed, nicely 'happed' in'"

(_happed_ is the Scotch word for "tucked"), "but I suppose he is just as well off by the bar-room fire. It's lucky he doesn't take a fancy to wander anywhere else, and we can always tell where he is."

"But, mother, I haven't heard him pa.s.s through the south entry,--have you? I always know when he goes into the bar-room by the quick little click of the latch."

"So do I," replied her mother; "but now I think of it, I haven't heard him to-night. I can't help hoping he is going to lie still."

There was nothing more said for a little while. They were both very busy finishing off a homespun suit for w.i.l.l.y. How should they suspect that a strange stupor was fast stealing over their little darling? Who was going to tell them that even now he was entering the valley of the shadow of death? _Who?_ I cannot answer that question; I only know that just then Mrs. Parlin, who was going to bed in about fifteen minutes, and did not like to leave her work yet, suddenly dropped the jacket, which was almost done, and said,--

"Love, I guess I'll go in and look at that child. He may have tossed the clothes off and got a little chilly."

Then she arose from her chair slowly,--she was so large that she always moved slowly,--took one of the candles, and went into the kitchen.

As she opened the bedroom door--Well, I cannot tell you; you will have to imagine that white, white face, pressed close to the pillow, that limp little figure, stretched under the coverlet, in awful stillness.

"O G.o.d, is it too late?" thought Mrs. Parlin. She saw the charcoal; she understood it all in an instant.

"Lydia, come quick!"

A low moan fell on her ear as she bent to listen. Thank Heaven, it was not too late! w.i.l.l.y could yet be saved!

Happy mother, receiving her precious one as if from the dead! Bewildered w.i.l.l.y, coming back to life with no remembrance of the dark river which he had almost forded, without a thought of the pearly gates he had almost entered!

Conscience-stricken "Liddy!" How she suffered when she found what she had done! Not that she made a scene by screaming and tearing her hair, as some ignorant people are apt to do at such a time. No; Liddy was a Quaker, and the Quaker blood is very quiet. She only pressed her hands together hard, and said to Mrs. Parlin,--

"Thee knows I never _meant_ any harm to that sweet child."

CHAPTER IV.

THE OX-MONEY.

Perhaps the shock had some effect upon w.i.l.l.y's habits, for after this he did not walk in his sleep for some time.

But one night, as the teamsters were drinking their cider, and talking about the well-beloved "Kellup," wondering why he should take it into his head to steal,--"as honest a man, they had always thought, as ever trod shoe-leather,"--the bar-room door softly opened, and in glided w.i.l.l.y, in his flannel night-dress.

The men were really glad to see him, and nodded at one another, smiling, but, as usual, made no remark about the child. They knew he could not hear, but it seemed as if he could, and they were a little careful what they said before him.

"Yes," said Mr. Parlin, going on to speak of Caleb, "I considered him an honest, G.o.d-fearing man, and trusted him as I would one of my own sons.

If there was any other way to account for that money, I should be glad, I a.s.sure you,--as glad as any of you."

"Where has Kellup gone to?" asked Mr. Griggs.

"Gone to Bangor, they say."

All this while w.i.l.l.y had not seated himself in his little chair, but was walking towards the bar. After muttering to himself a little while, he went in and took from the shelf the old account-book. Mr. Parlin looked at the teamsters, and put his finger on his lips as a hint for them to keep still, and see what the child would do.

w.i.l.l.y felt in the account-book for the key, then glided along to the money-drawer and opened it.