lligence became aware of what dread blow had befallen the
stricken man. He was bidden come to fulfil his promise instantly. He
remembered the bearing of the promise. Mr. Peridon's hurried explanatory
narrative made the request terrific, out of tragically lamentable. A
semblance of obedience had to be put on, and the act of dressing aided
it. Mr. Barmby prayed at heart for guidance further.

The two gentlemen drove Westward, speaking little; they had the dry sob
in the throat.

'Miss Radnor?' Mr. Barmby asked.

'She is shattered; she holds up; she would not break down.'

'I can conceive her to possess high courage.'

'She has her friend Mademoiselle de Seilles.'

Mr. Barmby remained humbly silent. Affectionate deep regrets moved him
to say: 'A loss irreparable. We have but one voice of sorrow. And how
sudden! The dear lady had no suffering, I trust.'

'She fell into the arms of Mr. Durance. She died in his arms. She
was unconscious, he says. I left her straining for breath. She said
"Victor"; she tried to smile:--I understood I was not to alarm him.'

'And he too late!'

'He was too late, by some minutes.'

'At least I may comfort. Miss Radnor must be a blessing to him.'

'They cannot meet. Her presence excites him.'

That radiant home of all hospitality seemed opening on from darker
chambers to the deadly dark. The immorality in the moral situation
could not be forgotten by one who was professionally a moralist. But an
incorruptible beauty in the woman's character claimed to plead for her
memory. Even the rigorous in defence of righteous laws are softened by
a sinner's death to hear excuses, and may own a relationship, haply
perceive the faint nimbus of the saint. Death among us proves us to be
still not so far from the Nature saying at every avenue to the mind:
'Earth makes all sweet.'

Mr. Durance had prophesied a wailful end ever to the carol of Optimists!
Yet it is not the black view which is the right view. There is one
between: the path adopted by Septimus Barmby:--if he could but induce
his brethren to enter on it! The dreadful teaching of circumstances
might help to the persuading of a fair young woman, under his
direction... having her hand disengaged. Mr. Barmby started himself in
the dream of his uninterred passion for the maiden: he chased it, seized
it, hurled it hence, as a present sacrilege:--constantly, and at the
pitch of our highest devotion to serve, are we assailed by the tempter!
Is