The minutes went by.The essayist remained musing on all the occurrences of the night.His eyes were directed upon the table,and he had seen for some time that writing-materials were spread upon it.He now noticed these more particularly:there were an inkstand,pen,blotting-book,and note-paper.Several sheets of paper were thrust aside from the rest,upon which letters had been begun and relinquished,as if their form had not been satisfactory to the writer.A stick of black sealing-wax and seal were there too,as if the ordinary fastening had not been considered sufficiently secure.The abandoned sheets of paper lying as they did open upon the table,made it possible,as he sat,to read the few words written on each.One ran thus:
SIR,--As a woman who was once blest with a dear son of her own,I implore you to accept a warning----
Another:
SIR,--If you will deign to receive warning from a stranger before it is too late to alter your course,listen to----
The third:
SIR,--With this letter I enclose to you another which,unaided by any explanation from me,tells a startling tale.I wish,however,to add a few words to make your delusion yet more clear to you----
It was plain that,after these renounced beginnings,a fourth letter had been written and despatched,which had been deemed a proper one.Upon the table were two drops of sealing-wax,the stick from which they were taken having been laid down overhanging the edge of the table;the end of it drooped,showing that the wax was placed there whilst warm.There was the chair in which the writer had sat,the impression of the letters address upon the blotting-paper,and the poor widow who had caused these results lying dead hard by.Knight had seen enough to lead him to the conclusion that Mrs.Jethway,having matter of great importance to communicate to some friend or acquaintance,had written him a very careful letter,and gone herself to post it;that she had not returned to the house from that time of leaving it till Lord Luxellian and himself had brought her back dead.
The unutterable melancholy of the whole scene,as he waited on,silent and alone,did not altogether clash with the mood of Knight,even though he was the affianced of a fair and winning girl,and though so lately he had been in her company.Whilst sitting on the remains of the demolished tower he had defined a new sensation;that the lengthened course of inaction he had lately been indulging in on Elfrides account might probably not be good for him as a man who had work to do.It could quickly be put an end to by hastening on his marriage with her.
Knight,in his own opinion,was one who had missed his mark by excessive aiming.Having now,to a great extent,given up ideal ambitions,he wished earnestly to direct his powers into a more practical channel,and thus correct the introspective tendencies which had never brought himself much happiness,or done his fellow-creatures any great good.To make a start in this new direction by marriage,which,since knowing Elfride,had been so entrancing an idea,was less exquisite to-night.That the curtailment of his illusion regarding her had something to do with the reaction,and with the return of his old sentiments on wasting time,is more than probable.Though Knights heart had so greatly mastered him,the mastery was not so complete as to be easily maintained in the face of a moderate intellectual revival.
His reverie was broken by the sound of wheels,and a horses tramp.The door opened to admit the surgeon,Lord Luxellian,and a Mr.Coole,coroner for the division (who had been attending at Castle Boterel that very day,and was having an after-dinner chat with the doctor when Lord Luxellian arrived);next came two female nurses and some idlers.
Mr.Granson,after a cursory examination,pronounced the woman dead from suffocation,induced by intense pressure on the respiratory organs;and arrangements were made that the inquiry should take place on the following morning,before the return of the coroner to St.Launces.
Shortly afterwards the house of the widow was deserted by all its living occupants,and she abode in death,as she had in her life during the past two years,entirely alone.
