ted and the
door was locked.

In ten minutes everybody in the house knew it except the bishop; and
in twenty minutes the nearest apothecary with his assistant were in
the room, and the body had been properly laid upon the bed. Even then
the husband had not been told,--did not know either his relief or his
loss. It was now past seven, which was the usual hour for dinner at
the palace, and it was probable that he would come out of his room
among the servants, if he were not summoned. When it was proposed to
Mr. Thumble that he should go in to him and tell him, he positively
declined, saying that the sight which he had just seen and the
exertions of the day together, had so unnerved him, that he had not
physical strength for the task. The apothecary, who had been summoned
in a hurry, had escaped, probably being equally unwilling to be
the bearer of such a communication. The duty therefore fell to Mrs
Draper, and under the pressing instance of the other servants she
descended to her master's room. Had it not been that the hour of
dinner had come, so that the bishop could not have been left much
longer to himself, the evil time would have been still postponed.

She went very slowly along the passage, and was just going to pause
ere she reached the room, when the door was opened and the bishop
stood close before her. It was easy to be seen that he was cross. His
hands and face were unwashed and his face was haggard. In these days
he would not even go through the ceremony of dressing himself before
dinner. "Mrs. Draper," he said, "why don't they tell me that dinner
is ready? Are they going to give me any dinner?" She stood a moment
without answering him, while the tears streamed down her face. "What
is the matter?" said he. "Has your mistress sent you here?"

"Oh laws!" said Mrs. Draper,--and she put out her hands to support him
if such support should be necessary.

"What is the matter?" he demanded angrily.

"Oh, my lord;--bear it like a Christian. Mistress isn't no more." He
leaned back against the door-post and she took hold of him by the
arm. "It was the heart, my lord. Dr. Filgrave hisself has not been
yet; but that's what it was." The bishop did not say a word, but
walked back to his chair before the fire.

CHAPTER LXVII

In Memoriam

[Illustration]

The bishop when he had heard of the tidings of his wife's death
walked back to his seat over the fire, and Mrs. Draper, the
housekeeper, came and stood