came for him."

"A seizure?" said Mr. Caryll. And then: "When they came for him?" he
echoed, struck by something odd in the man's utterance of those five
words. "When who came for him?"

"The messengers, sir," replied the butler dejectedly. "Has your honor
not heard?" And seeing the blank look on Mr. Caryll's face, he proceeded
without waiting for an answer: "His lordship was impeached yesterday by
his Grace of Wharton on a matter concerning the South Sea Company, and
Lord Carteret--the secretary of state, your honor--sent this morning to
arrest him."

"'Sdeath!" ejaculated Mr. Caryll in his surprise, a surprise that was
tempered with some dismay. "And he had a seizure, ye say?"

"An apoplexy, your honor. The doctors are with him now; Sir James,
himself, is here. They're cupping him--so I hear from Mr. Tom, his
lordship's man. I'd ha' thought your honor would ha' heard. 'Tis town
talk, they say."

Mr. Caryll would have found it difficult to have said exactly what
impression this news made upon him. In the main, however, he feared it
left him cold.

"'Tis very regrettable," said he. He fell thoughtful a moment. Then:
"Will you send word to Mistress Winthrop that I am here, and would speak
with her, Humphries?"

Humphries conducted Mr. Caryll to the little white and gold
withdrawing-room that was Hortensia's. There, in the little time that
he waited, he revolved the situation as it now stood, and the temptation
that had been with him for the past three days rose up now with a
greater vigor. Should Lord Ostermore die, Temptation argued, he need
no longer hesitate. Hortensia would be as much alone in the world as
he was; worse, for life at Stretton House with her ladyship--from which
even in the earl's lifetime she had been led to attempt to escape--must
be a thing unbearable, and what alternative could he suggest but that
she should become his wife?

She came to him presently, white-faced and with startled eyes. As she
took his outstretched hands, she attempted a smile. "It is kind in you
to come to me at such a time," she said.

"You mistake," said he, "as is but natural. I had not heard what had
befallen. I came to ask your hand in marriage of his lordship."

Some faint color tinged her cheeks. "You had decided, then?"

"I had decided that his lordship must decide," he answered.

"And now?"

"And now it seems we must decide for ourselves if his lordship dies."

Her mind swung to the graver matter. "Sir