"We tried every means of resuscitation, but they were entirely
ineffectual."

She relaxed her clasp of his fingers, and moved toward the door.

"Where are you going, Miss Huntingdon? Indeed, you must sit down."

"Russell, you have brought him home; where is he?"

Without waiting for an answer, she walked down the hall, and paused
suddenly at the sight of the still form resting on a grey
travelling-blanket, with a lantern at its head, and an elderly man, a
stranger, sitting near, keeping watch. Russell came to her side, and,
drawing his arm around her, made her lean upon him. He felt the long, long
lingering shudder which shook the elegant, queenly figure; then she slipped
down beside the rigid sleeper, and smoothed back from the fair brow the
dripping, curling, auburn hair.

"Hugh, my cousin! my playmate! Snatched away in an hour from the life you
loved so well. Ah! the curse of our house has fallen upon you. It is but
the beginning of the end. Only two of us are left, and we, too, shall soon
be caught up to join you."

She kissed the icy lips which a few hours ago had pressed hers so warmly,
and, rising, walked up and down the long hall. Russell once more approached
her.

"Are you entirely alone?"

"Yes, except the servants. Oh, Russell! how am I to break this to my
father? He loves that boy better than everything else; infinitely better
than he ever loved me. How shall I tell him that Hugh is dead--dead?"

"A messenger has already gone to inform him of what has happened, and this
distressing task will not be yours. Herbert Blackwell and I were riding
together, on our return from T----, when we reached the ford where the
disaster occurred. Finding that all our efforts to resuscitate were
useless, he turned back, and went to your father's plantation to break the
sad intelligence to him."

His soothing, tender tone touched some chord deep in her strange nature,
and unshed tears gathered for the first time in her eyes.

"As you have no friend near enough to call upon at present, I will, if you
desire it, wake the servants, remain, and do all that is necessary until
morning."

"If you please, Russell; I shall thank you very much."

As her glance fell upon her cousin's gleaming face, her lip fluttered, and
she turned away and sat down on one of the sofas in the parlour, dropping
her face in her hands. A little while after, the light of a candle streamed
in, and Russell came with a cushion from the library