e put the rest away. I believe it
was naughty curiosity, but she wishes us to think that she knew the
whole scandal about the General's will, and did what she did from a
sense of justice. When off duty she took the paper to her room, and when
she opened it she found the will inside it. In her excitement she called
the housemaid, an Englishwoman with whom she had made friends, and she
copied the will while they were together, and the names of Akers and
Stock--of whom she could not possibly have heard--are in her copy. I
have seen that copy, Lady Rose, and----" He paused and glanced at her
for a moment, and then his eyes sought the trees in the garden even as
they had done when he had made that other and awful announcement on the
day of the memorial service to Sir David. Rose flushed a little, and
her breathing came quickly, but she made no sign of impatience.

"Sir David left the whole of his fortune to you subject to an annual
payment of a thousand a-year to Madame Danterre during her lifetime."

Complete silence followed. Lady Rose either could not or would not
speak. Out of the pale, distinguished slightly worn face the eyes looked
at Mr. Murray with no surprise. Had she not always said that she did not
believe the iniquitous will Mr. Murray had brought her to be the true
one, but had she not also maintained that the true will would never be
found? She did not say so to Mr. Murray, but in fact she shrank from
making too sure of Nurse Edith's evidence. She had so long forbidden
herself to believe in the return of worldly fortune or to wish for it.

Mr. Murray coughed. No words of congratulation seemed available. At last
he went on:

"Nurse Edith says she did not read the letter which was with the will.
Directly she went on duty in the morning, and while Madame Danterre was
asleep she put the papers back in the black box and the key of the box
in its usual place in a little bag on a table standing close by the head
of the bed. It was, as I have said, this same box which was put into Dr.
Larrone's care before he started on his mysterious journey to see Miss
Dexter. Now our position is very strong. We have evidence of the
witnessing of a paper by two men. We have the copy of the will made by
the nurse and witnessed by the housemaid, and it bears the signatures of
those two men. Then you must remember that, in a case of this kind, the
court is much more likely to set aside a will leaving property away from
the family th