a that it was her duty to submit to him.

"Well?" he said, in the familiar sick-room whisper.

"She is dead."

He fell back a step, glaring at her, white and incredulous.

"_Dead?_--When----?"

"A few minutes ago...."

"_Dead--?_ It's not possible!"

He swept past her, shouldering her aside, pushing in an electric button
as he sprang to the bed. She perceived then that the room had been
almost in darkness. She recovered command of herself, and followed him.
He was going through the usual rapid examination--pulse, heart,
breath--hanging over the bed like some angry animal balked of its prey.
Then he lifted the lids and bent close above the eyes.

"Take the shade off that lamp!" he commanded.

Justine obeyed him.

He stooped down again to examine the eyes...he remained stooping a long
time. Suddenly he stood up and faced her.

"Had she been in great pain?"

"Yes."

"Worse than usual?"

"Yes."

"What had you done?"

"Nothing--there was no time."

"No time?" He broke off to sweep the room again with his excited
incredulous glance. "Where are the others? Why were you here alone?" he
demanded.

"It came suddenly. I was going to call----"

Their eyes met for a moment. Her face was perfectly calm--she could feel
that her lips no longer trembled. She was not in the least afraid of
Wyant's scrutiny.

As he continued to look at her, his expression slowly passed from
incredulous wrath to something softer--more human--she could not tell
what....

"This has been too much for you--go and send one of the others.... It's
all over," he said.

BOOK IV

XXX

ON a September day, somewhat more than a year and a half after Bessy
Amherst's death, her husband and his mother sat at luncheon in the
dining-room of the Westmore house at Hanaford.

The house was John Amherst's now, and shortly after the loss of his wife
he had established himself there with his mother. By a will made some
six months before her death, Bessy had divided her estate between her
husband and daughter, placing Cicely's share in trust, and appointing
Mr. Langhope and Amherst as her guardians. As the latter was also her
trustee, the whole management of the estate devolved on him, while his
control of the Westmore mills was ensured by his receiving a slightly
larger proportion of the stock than his step-daughter.

The will had come as a surprise, not only to Amherst himself, but to his
wife's family, and more especially to h