’We have no time to lose.  Hitch up the horses to the long sleigh as quick as you can.  We must go to the Tramp House after the woman, and send to the village for a doctor, and telegraph to Springfield for the coroner.  I suppose there must be an inquest; and, Dolly, see that a room is prepared for the body.’

’Oh, Frank, must it come here?  Why not take it to the cottage?  The child is there,’ Mrs. Tracy said, not because she cared so much for the trouble, but because of her aversion to having the corpse of a stranger in the house, with all that it involved.

‘I tell you that woman must come here,’ was Frank’s decided reply, as he began to make himself ready for the ride.

‘Don’t tell Arthur yet,’ he said, as he left the house and took his seat in the sleigh, which was soon ploughing its way through the snow banks in the direction of the Tramp House.

It was Harold who acted as master of ceremonies, for John was nervous and hung back from the half open door, while Frank was too much unstrung to know just what he was doing or saying, as he squeezed through the narrow space and then stood for a moment, snow-blind and dizzy, in the cheerless room.

Harold was not afraid now.  He had been there before alone, had seen and touched the white face of the corpse, and now, with companionship in its presence, he went fearlessly up to it, followed by Frank, who could scarcely stand, and who laid his hand for support on Harold’s shoulder, and then turned curiously and eagerly toward the woman.

John had lingered outside, shovelling the snow from the door which he succeeded in opening wide, so that the full, broad sunlight fell upon the face, which was neither young, nor pretty, nor fair, while the hair was black as night.

Frank noted all these points at a glance, and could have shouted aloud for joy, so great was the revulsion of his feelings.  It was not Gretchen lying there before him, and he was not a murderer, as he had accused himself of being, for she did not come by the train; she had no connection with Tracy Park; she was going somewhere else—­to Collingwood, perhaps—­when, overcome by the storm and the cold, she had sought shelter for the night in this wretched place.

’I suppose the proper thing to do is to leave her here till the coroner can see her,’ he said to John; ’but no train can get through from Springfield to-day, I am sure, and I shall have her taken to the park.  Bring me the blankets from the sleigh.’

He was very collected now, for a great load was lifted from his mind.

‘Had she nothing with her? nothing to cover her?’ he asked, as they proceeded to wrap her in the warm blankets, which, had they sooner come, would have saved her life.

Harold told him again of the carpet-bag and the cloak and the shawl, which had covered the child, and added, ’That’s all; there don’t seem to be anything else.  Oh, what’s this?’ and stooping down, he picked up some hard substance which he had kicked against the table.