professional capacity, to make a very
startling request.

"If," he wrote, "any change for the better in Mrs. Vanstone should take
place--whether it is only an improvement for the time, or whether it
is the permanent improvement for which we all hope--in either case
I entreat you to let me know of it immediately. It is of the last
importance that I should see her, in the event of her gaining strength
enough to give me her attention for five minutes, and of her being able
at the expiration of that time to sign her name. May I beg that you will
communicate my request, in the strictest confidence, to the medical men
in attendance? They will understand, and you will understand, the
vital importance I attach to this interview when I tell you that I have
arranged to defer to it all other business claims on me; and that I
hold myself in readiness to obey your summons at any hour of the day or
night."

In those terms the letter ended. Miss Garth read it twice over. At the
second reading the request which the lawyer now addressed to her, and
the farewell words which had escaped Mr. Clare's lips the day before,
connected themselves vaguely in her mind. There was some other serious
interest in suspense, known to Mr. Pendril and known to Mr. Clare,
besides the first and foremost interest of Mrs. Vanstone's recovery.
Whom did it affect? The children? Were they threatened by some new
calamity which their mother's signature might avert? What did it mean?
Did it mean that Mr. Vanstone had died without leaving a will?

In her distress and confusion of mind Miss Garth was incapable of
reasoning with herself, as she might have reasoned at a happier time.
She hastened to the antechamber of Mrs. Vanstone's room; and, after
explaining Mr. Pendril's position toward the family, placed his letter
in the hands of the medical men. They both answered, without hesitation,
to the same purpose. Mrs. Vanstone's condition rendered any such
interview as the lawyer desired a total impossibility. If she rallied
from her present prostration, Miss Garth should be at once informed of
the improvement. In the meantime, the answer to Mr. Pendril might be
conveyed in one word--Impossible.

"You see what importance Mr. Pendril attaches to the interview?" said
Miss Garth.

Yes: both the doctors saw it.

"My mind is lost and confused, gentlemen, in this dreadful suspense.
Can you either of you guess why the signature is wanted? or what the
object of the int