ight before. What could have possessed her to venture out at
night and into the rain as well, clad in the filmy, perishable gown and
in her stocking-feet? It was a mystery wholly baffling; not one of the
excited staff could offer a reasonable theory.

When the body was raised from the ground one fact at least was
established, and that was that death had not been occasioned by the
gash on the temple. At the first movement the head swung back like the
head of a sawdust doll. The neck had been broken.

They bore the body upstairs and laid it on the gilt bed. Then at a
word from Roger the butler picked up the receiver of the telephone upon
the painted _table de nuit_ and rang up Dr. Bousquet. The physician
could do no good, but he would attend to certain necessary formalities.
The servants crowded around, quiet now but avid with curiosity, until
Roger with a wave of the hand cleared the room, at the same time
issuing instructions to the chief of them. When he believed himself
alone with Chalmers a touch on the arm reminded him that the messenger,
who had followed the cortege upstairs, was still lingering on the
threshold of the bedroom. With his grubby hand he held out the
telegram he had brought, pointing to the name on the back.

"Leddy Cleefford? _C'est madame la?_" he whispered hoarsely.

Roger nodded and took the telegram, slipping it into his pocket. Then
mechanically he handed the messenger fifty francs and watched him
depart. At the door of Esther's room he encountered his aunt, her face
full of alarm.

"What is it all about, Roger? Something dreadful has happened, I know
it! I didn't dare leave the room after what you said."

"Close the door and come outside. Sartorius has gone, so Esther is
quite safe from him, but she's in a very nervous state and I don't want
her to know this yet.... Brace up, Dido; you must try to take what I'm
going to say quite calmly. Therese is dead. She died last night."

He thought she was going to faint, but she clutched the door-knob and
steadied herself.

"Dead!" Her dry lips formed the word. "Impossible! Why, last night
she ... what was it? Was she ill?"

"No. It seems to have been an accident. There'll have to be an
inquest. It's going to be extremely painful, and a terrible shock for
you. But remember this--if she'd lived it would have been infinitely
worse for us all."

She moistened her lips, regarding him with an ashen face.

"Roger--I don't