imes believe he will live out his sentence. Should you think that
possible in the case of a man with half a lung?'

'I have no knowledge of pulmonary disease,' Madeline said. She forced
the words from her lips and carefully looked away, taking this second
key to the situation mechanically, and for a moment groping with it.

'What arrangement did you make to be informed about--about him?' she
asked, and instantly regretted having gone so perilously near provoking
a direct question.

'I subscribe to the "New York World". I used to see lots of things in
it--about the shock the news of my death gave him--'

A flash of hysterical amusement shot into Mrs. Innes's eyes, and she
questioned Madeline's face to see whether it responded to her humour.
Then she put her own features straight behind her handkerchief and went
on.

'And about his failing health, and then about his being so much better.
But nothing now for ages.'

'Did the "World" tell you,' asked Miss Anderson, with sudden interest,
'that Mr. Prendergast came into a considerable fortune before--about two
years ago?'

Mrs. Innes's face turned suddenly blank. 'How much?' she exclaimed.

'About five hundred thousand dollars, I believe. Left him by a cousin.
Then you didn't know?'

'That must have been Gordon Prendergast--the engineer!' Mrs. Innes said,
with excitement. 'Fancy that! Leaving money to a relation in Sing Sing!
Hadn't altered his will, I suppose. Who could possibly,' and her face
fell visibly, 'have foreseen such a thing?'

'No one, I think,' said Madeline, through a little edged smile. 'On that
point you will hardly be criticized.'

Mrs. Innes, with clasped hands, was sunk in thought. She raised her eyes
with a conviction in them which she evidently felt to be pathetic.

'After all,' she said, 'there is something in what the padres say
about our reaping the reward of our misdeeds in this world--some of us,
anyway. If I had stayed in New York--'

'Yes?' said Madeline. 'I shall wake up presently,' she reflected, 'and
find that I have been dreaming melodrama.' But that was a fantastic
underscoring of her experience. She knew very well she was making it.

Mrs. Innes, again wrapped in astonished contemplation, did not reply.
Then she jumped to her feet with a gesture that cast fortunes back into
the lap of fate.

'One thing is certain,' she said; 'I can't do anything NOW, can I?'

Madeline laid hold of silence and made armour with it. At all even