abina Meldreth?"

"Yes, that's all," she answered, the old fierceness creeping back into
her tones. "What else should I have to say? I suppose you can have me
taken up for assault; Miss Vane will bear witness in your favor fast
enough, no doubt. I don't care!"

"Do you not care even when you think what I kept you back from?" said
Mr. Evandale. "Your mother was old, weak, dying, and you threw yourself
upon her with violence. You will remember that some day, and will bless
me perhaps because I withheld your hand. Your attack upon me matters
nothing. I am willing to believe that you did not know what you were
doing. I will leave you know--it is not seemly that we should discuss
this matter any further. But, if ever you want help or counsel--and the
day may come, my poor woman, when you may want both--then come to me."

He opened the door, went out, and closed it behind him, leaving Sabina
Meldreth alone with the dead.

He found two or three women down-stairs already; Enid Vane must have
told Polly, as she passed through the shop, that Mrs. Meldreth's end had
come. As soon as he had gone, two of them went up-stairs to perform the
necessary offices in the chamber of death. They found Sabina stretched
on the floor in a swoon, from which it was long before she recovered.

"You wouldn't ha' thought she had so much feeling in her," said one of
the women to the other, as they ministered to her wants.

Meanwhile the Rector strode down the village street, straining his eyes
in the twilight, and glancing eagerly from side to side, in his endeavor
to discover what had become of Miss Vane. He knew that she had probably
never been out so late unattended in her life before; lonely as her
existence seemed to be, she was well cared for, anxiously guarded, and
surrounded by every possible protection. He had been surprised to find
her in Mrs. Meldreth's cottage so late in the afternoon. Only the
exigencies of the situation had prevented him from following her at once
when she left the house--only the stern conviction that he must not, for
the sake of Miss Vane's bodily safety and comfort, neglect Sabina
Meldreth's soul. But, when he felt that his duty in the cottage was
over, he sallied forth in search of Enid Vane. She had been wearing a
long fur-lined cloak, he remembered, and on her head a little fur toque
to match. The colors of both were dark; at a distance she could not be
easily distinguished by her dress. And she had at least t