erable day when he
followed the duelists, and saw his brother's death. Oh! you are turning
pale! How thoughtless, how cruel of me! I ought to have remembered that
such horrors as these have never overshadowed your happy life!"

Struggling to recover her self-control, Stella tried to reassure Madame
Marillac by a gesture. The voice which she had heard in the next room
was--as she now knew--the voice that haunted Romayne. Not the words
that had pleaded hunger and called for bread--but those other words,
"Assassin! assassin! where are you?"--rang in her ears. She entreated
Madame Marillac to break the unendurable interval of silence. The
widow's calm voice had a soothing influence which she was eager to feel.
"Go on!" she repeated. "Pray go on!"

"I ought not to lay all the blame of my boy's affliction on the duel,"
said Madame Marillac. "In childhood, his mind never grew with his bodily
growth. His brother's death may have only hurried the result which was
sooner or later but too sure to come. You need feel no fear of him. He
is never violent--and he is the most beautiful of my children. Would you
like to see him?"

"No! I would rather hear you speak of him. Is he not conscious of his
own misfortune?"

"For weeks together, Stella--I am sure I may call you Stella?--he is
quite calm; you would see no difference outwardly between him and other
boys. Unhappily, it is just at those times that a spirit of impatience
seems to possess him. He watches his opportunity, and, however careful
we may be, he is cunning enough to escape our vigilance."

"Do you mean that he leaves you and his sisters?"

"Yes, that is what I mean. For nearly two months past he has been away
from us. Yesterday only, his return relieved us from a state of suspense
which I cannot attempt to describe. We don't know where he has been, or
in the company of what persons he has passed the time of his absense. No
persuasion will induce him to speak to us on the subject. This morning
we listened while he was talking to himself."

"Was it part of the boy's madness to repeat the words which still
tormented Romayne?" Stella asked if he ever spoke of the duel.

"Never! He seems to have lost all memory of it. We only heard, this
morning, one or two unconnected words--something about a woman, and then
more that appeared to allude to some person's death. Last night I was
with him when he went to bed, and I found that he had something to
conceal from me. He let me