first such feeling he had ever had. It did not trouble him seriously. He
smoked another cigar on the bridge and then went into the house and to
bed. As he undressed it occurred to him (and the idea gave him both
pleasure and amusement) that he had made a sort of alliance with Bob
against Duplay, although it could come into operation only under
circumstances which were very unlikely to happen.

The blinds drawn at Blent next morning told Mina what had happened, and
the hour of eleven found her at a Committee Meeting at Miss
Swinkerton's, which she certainly would not have attended otherwise. As
it was, she wanted to talk and to hear, and the gathering afforded a
chance. Mrs Iver was there, and Mrs Trumbler the vicar's wife, a meek
woman, rather ousted from her proper position by the energy of Miss
Swinkerton; she was to manage the Bible-reading department, which was
not nearly so responsible a task as conducting the savings-bank, and did
not involve anything like the same amount of supervision of other
people's affairs. Mrs Trumbler felt, however, that on matters of morals
she had a claim to speak _jure mariti_.

"It is so sad!" she murmured. "And Mr Trumbler found he could do so
little! He came home quite distressed."

"I'm told she wasn't the least sensible of her position," observed Miss
S., with what looked rather like satisfaction.

"Didn't she know she was dying?" asked Mina, who had established her
footing by a hypocritical show of interest in the cottage-gardens.

"Oh, yes, she knew she was dying, my dear," said Miss S. What poor Lady
Tristram might have known, but apparently had not, was left to an
obvious inference.

"She was very kind," remarked Mrs Iver. "Not exactly actively, you know,
but if you happened to come across her." She rose as she spoke and bade
Miss S. farewell. That lady did not try to detain her, and the moment
the door had closed behind her remarked:

"Of course Mrs Iver feels in a delicate position and can't say anything
about Lady Tristram; but from what I hear she never realized the
peculiarity of her position. No (this to Mrs Trumbler), I mean in the
neighborhood, Mrs Trumbler. And the young man is just the same. But I
should have liked to hear that Mr Trumbler thought it came home to her
at the last."

Mr Trumbler's wife shook her head gently.

"Well, now we shall see, I suppose," Miss S. pursued. "The engagement is
to be made public directly after the funeral."

Mina almost s