t the seizure, I understand?"

"I was."

"A good age," remarked the athletic lawyer, with obvious difficulty
subduing his wonted breeziness. "The doctor tells me that it was
marvellous she lived so long. Wonderful woman! Wonderful!"

And he too moved away, Lashmar gazing after him, and wishing he knew
all that was in the legal mind at this moment. But that secret must
very soon become common property. Perhaps the contents of Lady Ogram's
will would be known at Hollingford this evening.

He searched vainly for Constance and for May. The former he did not see
until she crossed the hall to enter one of the carriages; the latter
appeared not at all. Had she, then, really left Rivenoak? Sitting in
his hired brougham, in dignified solitude, he puzzled anxiously over
this question. Happily, he would learn everything from Lady Toplady.

In the little church of Shawe, his eyes wandered as much as his
thoughts. Surveying the faces, most of them unknown to him, he noticed
that scarcely a person present was paying any attention to the
ceremony, or made any attempt to conceal his or her indifference. At
one moment it vexed him that no look turned with interest in his
direction; was he not far and away the most notable of all the people
gathered here? A lady and a gentleman sat near him, frequently
exchanged audible whispers, and he found that they were debating a
trivial domestic matter, with some acerbity of mutual contradiction. He
gazed now and then at the black-palled coffin, and found it impossible
to realise that there lay the strange, imperious old woman who for
several months had been the centre of his thoughts, and to whom he owed
so vast a change in his circumstances. He felt no sorrow, yet thought
of her with a certain respect, even with a slight sensation of
gratitude, which was chiefly due, however, to the fact that she had
been so good as to die. Live as long as he might, the countenance and
the voice of Lady Ogram would never be less distinct in his memory than
they were to-day. He, at all events, had understood and appreciated
her. If he became master of Rivenoak, the marble bust should always
have an honoured place under that roof.

Dyce saw himself master of Rivenoak. He fell into a delightful dream,
and, when the congregation suddenly stirred, he realised with alarm
that he had a broad smile on his face.

Rather before the hour she had named, Mrs. Toplady presented herself at
the Saracen's Head. Lashmar wa