ne only one obstacle intervenes between
you and all the Essendine wealth. If Lord Lydstone were out of the
way, the title and its possession would come, perhaps, to your
husband, certainly to your son."

"Silence! Do not put thoughts into my head. You must be the very
fiend, I think."

"I know you, Cyprienne, and every move of your mind. We are such old
friends, you see," he said, with a sneering, cynical smile. "And now,
as before, I offer you my help."

"Devil! Do not tempt me!"

He laughed--a cold, cruel, truculent laugh.

"I know you, I repeat, and am ready to serve you as before. Come, or
send, if you want me. I am living here in this hotel; Mr. Hobson they
call me--Mr. Joseph Hobson, of London. My number is 73. Shall I hear
from you?"

"No, no! I will not listen to you. Let me go!" And Mrs. Wilders,
breaking away from him, hurried down the street.

It was not a long walk to the waterside. There she took a caique, or
local boat, with two rowers in red fezzes, and was conveyed across the
Bosphorus to the Asiatic side.

Landing at Scutari, Mrs. Wilders went straight to the great palace,
which was now a hospital, and treading its long passages with the
facility of one who had travelled the road before, she presently
found herself in a spacious, lofty chamber filled with truckle-beds,
and converted now into a hospital-ward.

"How is he?" she asked, going up at once to a sergeant who acted as
superintendent and head nurse.

"Mr. Wilders, ma'am?" replied the sergeant, with a shake of the head.

"No improvement?"

"Far worse, ma'am, poor young chap! He died this morning, soon after
daylight."

"And my lord--was his brother present?"

"Lord Lydstone watched with him through the night, and was here by the
bedside when he died."

"Where is he now? Lord Lydstone, I mean."

"He went back on board his yacht, ma'am, I think. He said he should
like a little sleep. But he is to be here again this afternoon, for
the funeral."

"So soon?"

"Oh, yes! ma'am. It must take place at once, the doctors say."

Mrs. Wilders left the hospital, hesitating greatly what she should do.
She would have liked to see and speak with Lydstone, but she had
enough good feeling not to intrude by following him on board the
yacht.

Then she resolved to attend the funeral too. It would show her
sympathy, and Lord Lydstone would be bound to notice her.

He did see her, and came up after the ceremony to shake her hand.

"I am so