ing into my affairs. It is you I must thank for this interference. Out
of this room directly! Get you gone!"

I should have obeyed, but a sound from Herbert's bed arrested me--a sound
that awed me more than the angry voice of Richard! I hurried to the
bedside. Mr. Bristed was there before me. I looked at the sinking boy. A
stronger hand than his father's grasped him now. _That_ hand was
_Death's_!

No need now to remove the little sufferer from his couch to the carriage
in waiting. He would be borne soon by the white-robed angels from the
reach of us all!

Even Richard, whose cruel grasp he had eluded, seemed awed as the little
spirit burst from its tenement, and a transcendent smile settled on the
thin, waxen face, and the white hands folded themselves across the breast
with an air of unutterable peace.

CHAPTER XX.

Early the next morning Mr. Bristed accompanied the lifeless body of
little Herbert to Bristed Hall. He begged me to go with him, but I
refused his solicitations. I had other duties before me, which I must
perform. I should have been glad to have rid myself from every one, but
that could not be. Richard did not return, and I was alone; the days
dragged heavily away. I felt that I stood on the brink of a yawning chasm
from which I could turn neither to the right nor the left. The thought of
remaining with Richard was abhorrent, and the prospect of leaving him and
commencing life anew was also a dreadful alternative.

What shall I do?--I reflected, as I went my weary way through the
classes. Richard solved that question for me when he returned after an
absence of three days.

My pupils had just retired when a message came that he had returned and
desired to see me in the library. With a heavy heart I went to meet him.
He was not alone. A tall, passionate-looking woman, with dark hair and
restless eyes, sat beside him. She was richly appareled, and gazed at me
with a haughty stare as I entered.

Richard nodded to me a bare recognition and said, "I have sent for you,
as I wish you to inform your pupils that they must leave in the morning.
I have other uses for this building."

At this cool announcement I staggered. Good God! would he undo me? What
plan had he now in view? "Remove my pupils!" I exclaimed.

"Yes; do I not speak clearly? And as you have been plotting and scheming
for some time against me, I would advise you to leave, also. Bristed
Hall," said he sneeringly, "is likely to prove