nt
surgeon no doubt spoke of the matter among his friends, but he always
declared that he had no certain knowledge as to the hand which fired
the pistol.

The women in Keppel Street of course talked. There had certainly been
a smoke and a smell of gunpowder. Mrs. Richards had heard nothing.
Sarah thought that she had heard a noise. They both were sure that
Daniel Thwaite had been much the worse for drink,--a statement which
led to considerable confusion. No pistol was ever seen,--though
the weapon remained in the old desk for some days, and was at last
conveyed out of the house when the Countess left it with all her
belongings. She had been afraid to hide it more stealthily or even
throw it away, lest her doing so should be discovered. Had the law
interfered,--had any search-warrant been granted,--the pistol would,
of course, have been found. As it was, no one asked the Countess a
question on the subject. The lawyers who had been her friends, and
had endeavoured to guide her through her difficulties, became afraid
of her, and kept aloof from her. They had all gone over to the
opinion that Lady Anna should be allowed to marry the tailor, and had
on that account become her enemies. She was completely isolated, and
was now spoken of mysteriously,--as a woman who had suffered much,
and was nearly mad with grief, as a violent, determined, dangerous
being, who was interesting as a subject for conversation, but one not
at all desirable as an acquaintance. During the whole of this month
the Countess remained in Keppel Street, and was hardly ever seen by
any but the inmates of that house.

Lady Anna had returned home all alone, on the evening of the day on
which the deed had been done, after leaving her lover in the hands
of the old nurse with whose services he had been furnished. The rain
was still falling as she came through Russell Square. The distance
was indeed short, but she was wet and cold and draggled when she
returned; and the criminality of the deed which her mother had
committed had come fully home to her mind during the short journey.
The door was opened to her by Mrs. Richards, and she at once asked
for the Countess. "Lady Anna, where have you been?" asked Mrs.
Richards, who was learning to take upon herself, during these
troubles, something of the privilege of finding fault. But Lady
Anna put her aside without a word, and went into the parlour. There
sat the Countess just as she had been left,--except that a pa