ncheon. It
was arranged upon the table, but lay there disregarded. Alma took up
the newspaper again. In a moment she leaned towards her husband.

'What did you think?'

'Nothing--don't talk about it.'

Two glasses of wine had been poured out; Harvey took his and drank it
off.

'It's a pity I saw this,' he said; 'it has shaken your nerves. I ought
to have kept it to myself.'

Alma dipped a spoon in the soup before her, and tried to swallow. Her
hand did not tremble; the worst had come and gone in a few seconds; but
her palate refused food. She drank wine, and presently became so
collected, so quiet, that she wondered at herself. Cyrus Redgrave was
dead--dead!--the word kept echoing in her mind. As soon as she
understood and believed the fact of Redgrave's death, it became the
realisation of a hope which she had entertained without knowing it.
Only by a great effort could she assume the look of natural concern;
had she been in solitude, her face would have relaxed like that of one
who is suddenly relieved from physical torment. She gave no thought to
wider consequences: she saw the event only as it affected herself in
her relations with the dead man. She had feared him; she had feared
herself; now all danger was at an end. Now--now she could find courage
to front the crowd of people and play to them. Her conscience ceased
from troubling; the hope of triumph no longer linked itself with dread
of a fatal indebtedness. No touch of sorrow entered into her mood; no
anxiety on behalf of the man whose act had freed her. He, her husband's
friend, would keep the only secret which could now injure her. Cyrus
Redgrave was dead, and to her it meant a renewal of life.

Harvey was speaking; he reminded her of the necessity of taking food.

'Yes, I am going to eat something.'

'Look here, Alma,'--he regarded her sternly,--'if you have any fear, if
you are unequal to this, let me go and make an excuse for you.'

'I have not the _least_ fear. Don't try to make me nervous.'

She ate and drank. Harvey, the while, kept his eyes fixed on the
newspaper.

'Now I must go,' she said in a few minutes, after looking at her watch.
'Don't come out with me. Do just as you like about going into the Hall
and about meeting me afterwards. You needn't be the least bit anxious,
I assure you; I'm not going to make myself ridiculous.'

They stood up.

'I shall be at the door with a cab,' said Harvey.

'Very well; I won't keep you waiting.'