ch about my
being late, Mrs. Bradford. Miss Ethel did not leave things until now,
you know. She was ready to meet her God."

"She is quite unconscious," said Mrs. Bradford. "At first she kept
murmuring over and over: 'Everything's so different.--everything's so
different.' But the doctor said it was probably what she was saying to
herself when she fell. It meant nothing."

"Meant nothing!" It was Miss Panton's voice, which cut abruptly across
their solemn conversation, startling them both; but she had again
forgotten herself entirely. "You say it meant nothing--when she's
dying of it."

"Of what? Of things being different!" said Laura, speaking from a
corner of the room where she had intended to remain silent.

But some one had to break that terrible pause. For Miss
Panton--Nanty--with all her silliness had spoken words which were to
all of them like a search-light suddenly turned upon the inner secrets
of the woman who was dying upstairs.

"Poor Ethel! I'm afraid so," said Mrs. Bradford. "It's true that she
did take things to heart--about the new houses, and the hedge, and all
the rest." But the next moment that blinding light was blurred in Mrs.
Bradford's mind: "Of course I disliked the changes too--only I took
them differently. I am sure they did not produce my sister's illness.
Of course not." And she glanced at Miss Panton with heavy-eyed
disfavour.

"I am afraid Miss Ethel dreaded the idea of leaving this house," said
the Vicar.

"Yes, yes," said Mrs. Bradford. "You see, it was the only home my
sister ever knew." And despite her real grief, she glanced up
instinctively at Mr. Bradford's portrait, triumphing over the sister
who lay upstairs.

"Some natures find these swift and tremendous changes harder to bear
than others," said the Vicar. "But there is only one way for people
like ourselves to take it, Mrs. Bradford. We must be kind, do the next
job, and hold fast----"

Then he broke off, for the nurse was beckoning at the door; the end had
come sooner than they expected.

* * * * * *

Caroline drew down the blinds all over the house and then hovered about
the hall in her coat and hat, not knowing whether to go back to the
promenade or not. Lillie would want to leave, of course; but then she
herself might be required here. At last Godfrey came through, but he
did not seem real to her. She was so exhausted by her own emotion and
by the shock of Mi