n an undertone to the old butler. Lady
Gwendolen added an apology which she kept in stereotype for the
non-appearance of her mother at breakfast. The Earl's absence was a
usage, taken for granted. Some said he had a cup of coffee in his own
room at eight, and starved till lunch.

Other guests appeared, and the usual English country-house breakfast
followed: a haphazard banquet, a decorous scrimmage for a surfeit of
eggs, and fish, and bacon, and tongue, and tea, and coffee, and
porridge, and even Heaven itself hardly knows what. Less than usual
vanished to become a vested interest of digestion; more than usual went
back to the kitchen for appreciation elsewhere. For Sir Coupland,
appealed to, had given a brief intelligent report of the occurrence of
the morning. Then followed undertones of conversation apart between him
and the Hon. Percival, who had not the heart for a pleasantry, and
groups of two or three aside. Lady Gwen alone was silent, leaving the
narration entirely to her medical friend, to whom she had told the
incident of last evening--her interview with the man now lying between
life and death, and the way his body was found by following the dog. She
left the room as early as courtesy allowed, and Sir Coupland did not
remain long. He had to go and tell the matter to the Earl, he said.
Gwendolen, no doubt, had to do the same to her mother the Countess. It
was an awful business.

Said Miss Smith-Dickenson to the Hon. Percival, on the shady terrace, a
quarter of an hour afterwards, "He _did_ tell you who the man is,
though? Or perhaps I oughtn't to ask?" Other guests were scattered
otherwhere, talking of the tragedy. Not a smile to be seen; still, the
victim of the mishap was a stranger. It was a cloud under which a man
might enjoy a cigar, _quand meme_.

The Hon. Percival knocked an instalment of _caput mortuum_ off his; an
inch of ash which had begun on the terrace; so the interview was some
minutes old. "Yes," said he. "Yes, he knows who it is. That's the worst
of it."

"The worst of it?"

"I don't know of any reason myself why I should not tell you his name.
Sir Coupland only said he wanted it kept quiet till he could see his
father, whom he knows, of course. I understand that the family belongs
to this county--lives about twenty miles off." The lady felt so
confident that she would be told the name that she seized the
opportunity to show how discreet she was, and kept silence. _She_ was
quite incapab