“Hence came her great temptation,—­a temptation to which she yielded, to the lasting trouble of us all.  Of this I must now make confession though it kills me to do so, and will soon kill her.  The deeds of the past do not remain buried, however deep we dig their graves, but rise in an awful resurrection when we are old—­old—­”

Silence.  Then a tremulous renewal of his painful speech.

Violet held her breath to listen.  Possibly the doctor, hidden in the darkest corner of the room, did so also.

“I never knew how she became acquainted with the terms of her brother-in-law’s will.  He certainly never confided them to her, and as certainly the lawyer who drew up the document never did.  But that she was well aware of its tenor is as positive a fact as that I am the most wretched man alive tonight.  Otherwise, why the darksome deed into which she was betrayed when both the brothers lay dying among strangers, of a dreadful accident?”

“I was witness to that deed.  I had accompanied her on her hurried ride and was at her side when she entered the inn where the two Postlethwaites lay.  I was always at her side in great joy or in great trouble, though she professed no affection for me and gave me but scanty thanks.”

“During our ride she had been silent and I had not disturbed that silence.  I had much to think of.  Should we find him living, or should we find him dead?  If dead, would it sever the relations between us two?  Would I ever ride with her again?”

“When I was not dwelling on this theme, I was thinking of the parting look she gave her boy; a look which had some strange promise in it.  What had that look meant and why did my flesh creep and my mind hover between dread and a fearsome curiosity when I recalled it?  Alas!  There was reason for all these sensations as I was soon to learn.

“We found the inn seething with terror and the facts worse than had been represented in the telegram.  Her husband was dying.  She had come just in time to witness the end.  This they told her before she had taken off her veil.  If they had waited—­if I had been given a full glimpse of her face—­But it was hidden, and I could only judge of the nature of her emotions by the stern way in which she held herself.

“‘Take me to him,’ was the quiet command, with which she met this disclosure.  Then, before any of them could move: 

“’And his brother, Mr. Andrew Postlethwaite?  Is he fatally injured too?’

“The reply was unequivocal.  The doctors were uncertain which of the two would pass away first.

“You must remember that at this time I was ignorant of the rich man’s will, and consequently of how the fate of a poor child of whom I had heard only one mention, hung in the balance at that awful moment.  But in the breathlessness which seized Mrs. Postlethwaite at this sentence of double death, I realized from my knowledge of her that something more than grief was at prey upon her impenetrable heart, and shuddered to the core of my being when she repeated in that voice which was so terrible because so expressionless: