on, and so suffered much that, given exercise of restraint, he
might have escaped altogether. He was brave enough, but personal bravery
would not be called for. He sat now staring dumbly at an imaginary
series of events abominable and unseemly in every particular to his
order of mind. He was so concerned with what the future must hold in
store for him that for a time the present quite escaped his thoughts.

He returned to it, however, and it was almost with the shock of a new
surprise he remembered that Peter Hardcastle, a man of European repute,
had just died in his house. But he could not in the least realize the
new tragedy. He had as yet barely grasped the truth of his son-in-law's
end, and still often found himself expecting Tom's footfall and his
jolly voice. That such an abundant vitality was stilled, that such an
infectious laugh would never sound again on mortal ear he yet sometimes
found it hard to believe.

But now it seemed that the impact of this second blow rammed home the
first. He brooded upon his dead son-in-law, and it was long before he
returned to the event of that day. A thought struck him, and though
elementary enough, it seemed to Sir Walter an important conclusion.
There could be no shadow of doubt that Tom May and Peter Hardcastle had
died by the same secret force. He felt that he must remember this.

Again he puzzled, and then decided with himself that, if he meant to
keep sane, he must practice faith and trust in God. Septimus May had
said that such unparalleled things sometimes happened in the world to
try man's faith. Doubtless he was right.

Henceforth the old man determined to stand firmly on the side of
the supernatural with the priest. He went further, and blamed his
scepticism. It had cost the world a valuable life. He could not, indeed,
be censured for that in any court of inquiry. Sceptical men would
doubtless say that he had done rightly in refusing Mr. May his
experiment. But Sir Walter now convinced himself that he had done
wrongly. At such a time, with landmarks vanishing and all accepted laws
of matter resolved into chaos, there remained only God to trust. Such
a burden as this was not to be borne by any mortal, and Sir Walter
determined that he would not bear it.

Were we not told to cast our tribulations before the Almighty? Here, if
ever, was a situation beyond the power of human mind to approach, unless
a man walked humbly with his hand in his Maker's. Septimus May had be