him to have
destroyed.

Adela sank upon the seat. Her ring! Had she picked it up? Yes; it was
again upon her finger. How had it chanced to fall down below? She rose
again and examined the cupboard; there was a gap of four or five inches
at the back of the upper shelf.

Had the will fallen in the same way? Adela conjectured that thus it
had been lost, though when or under what circumstances she could not
imagine. We, who are calmer, may conceive the old man to have taken
his will to church with him on the morning of his death, he being then
greatly troubled about the changes he had in view. Perhaps he laid the
folded parchment on the shelf and rested one of the large books in front
of it. He breathed his last. Then the old woman, whose duty it was to
put the pews in order, hurriedly throwing the books into the cupboard as
soon as the dead man was removed, perchance pushed the document so far
back that it slipped through the gap and down behind the buffets.

At all events, no one has ever hit upon a likelier explanation.

CHAPTER XXIV

She could not sit through the service, yet to leave the church she would
have to walk the whole length of the aisle. What did it matter? It would
very soon be known why she had gone away, and to face for a moment the
wonder of Sunday-clad villagers is not a grave trial. Adela opened the
pew door and quitted the church, the parchment held beneath her mantle.

As she issued from the porch the sun smote warm upon her face; it
encouraged a feeling of gladness which had followed her astonishment.
She had discovered the tenor of the will; it affected her with a sudden
joy, undisturbed at first by any reflection. The thought of self was
slow in coming, and had not power to trouble her greatly even when she
faced it. Befall herself what might, she held against her heart a power
which was the utmost limit of that heart's desire. So vast, so undreamt,
so mysteriously given to her, that it seemed preternatural. Her weakness
was become strength; with a single word she could work changes such as
it had seemed no human agency could bring about.

To her, to her it had been given! What was all her suffering, crowned
with power like this?

She durst not take the will from beneath her mantle, though burning to
reassure herself of its contents. Not till she was locked in her room.
If any one met her as she entered the house, her excuse would be that
she did not feel well.

But as she hurrie