r corner of the room. It
excited no surprise though, then, when she saw that the corner was
vacant, for, dulled by long familiarity with the grief before her, other
matters seemed to make no impression on her mind.

It was the same with the Rector, for as Mrs Elstree rose to leave the
room, he did not remove his gaze from his daughter's face, but still sat
watching silently and sadly for the change.

Mrs Elstree sought Sir Murray in his room; but he was not there, and
then, as, candle in hand--unnecessary then, for a cold, pale light
seemed to creep through the sky light over the grand staircase, to give
to everything a chilly, forlorn, and strange look--she descended the
stairs, she encountered a servant who, with a scared face, told her that
Sir Murray was in the library, and then stood watching her descent.

She reached the library door and knocked, to receive no answer, and her
repeated summonses were without effect, when, with a sigh, she turned to
retrace her steps.

"He will not come," she said. Then, to the maid, who had been watching
her anxiously: "Have you seen Jane?"

"Went out, ma'am, with one of the gardeners, ever so long ago, ma'am."

"Do you know where?"

"No, ma'am. She never said a word to me about it;" and the girl, and
another who had joined her, turned to gaze uneasily at the closed
library door.

Mrs Elstree slowly retraced her steps--slowly, though shivering the
while with anxiety--and returned to the bedroom, to find the scene there
unchanged. But she had hardly retaken her place by the bedside when
there was a rustling at the door, and she turned her head, thinking that
it might be Sir Murray, but, to her surprise, Ada Norton, closely
followed by Jane, entered the room.

Ada spoke no word, but, gliding to the bedside, stood, pale and anxious,
gazing down upon her cousin's shrunken face. Then, stooping softly, she
pressed a long kiss upon her white lips, the doctor making no sign of
rebuke.

"Where is her child?" said Ada then, in an anxious tone, for, as she had
bent down, Lady Gernon's eyes had opened, and her lips had parted in a
faint whisper.

"May it be fetched?" said Mrs Elstree, softly, to the doctor.

"Yes--yes," he whispered, in tones that seemed to imply, "all is over
now."

Jane hurried, sobbing, from the room, for the last moments seemed to
have come. There was something awful in the strange light of
recognition that had come into Lady Gernon's eyes; but when,