Hampton said it was all
assumed; but Lady Darrell said, more gently, that Pauline was not a
girl to assume a grief which she did not feel.

So the baronet died after a week of severe illness, during which he
never regained the power of speech, nor could make himself intelligible.
The most distressing thing was that there was evidently something which
he wished to say--something which he desired to make them understand.
When Pauline was in the room his eyes followed her with a wistful
glance, pitiful, sad, distressing; he evidently wished to say something,
but had not the power.

With that wish unexpressed he died, and they never knew what it was.
Only Pauline thought that he meant, even at the last, to ask her
forgiveness and to do her justice.

Darrell Court was thrown into deepest mourning; the servants went about
with hushed footsteps and sorrowful faces. He had been kind to them,
this stately old master; and who knew what might happen under the new
_regime_? Lady Hampton was, she assured every one, quite overwhelmed
with business. She had to make all arrangements for the funeral, to
order all the mourning, while Lady Darrell was supposed to be
overwhelmed with sorrow in the retirement of her own room.

One fine spring morning, while the pretty bluebells were swaying in the
wind, and the hawthorn was shining pink and white on the hedges, while
the birds sang and the sun shone, Sir Oswald Darrell was buried, and the
secret of what he had wished to say or have done was buried with him.

At Lady Darrell's suggestion, Captain Langton was sent for to attend
the funeral. It was a grand and stately procession. All the _elite_ of
the county were there, all the tenantry from Audleigh Royal, all the
friends who had known Sir Oswald and respected him.

"Was he the last of the Darrells?" one asked of another; and many looked
at the stately, dark-eyed girl who bore the name, wondering how he had
left his property, whether his niece would succeed him, or his wife take
all. They talked of this in subdued whispers as the funeral _cortege_
wound its way to the church, they talked of it after the coffin had been
lowered into the vault, and they talked of it as the procession made its
way back to Darrell Court.

As Lady Hampton said, it was a positive relief to open the windows and
let the blessed sunshine in, to draw up the heavy blinds, to do away
with the dark, mourning aspect of the place.

Everything had been done accord