no signs of coming round as yet. If I could
only induce him to see you! But he is, as you know, a person of
unrelenting will, and meanwhile you must confide in my loyal efforts on
your behalf. At the same time, I admit that the situation is a
precarious one: you are, I am sure, well provided for in the present
will of Lord Pharanx, but he is on the point--within, say, three or
four days--of making another; and exasperated as he is at your
appearance in England, I know there is no chance of your receiving a
_centime_ under the new will. Before then, however, we must hope that
something favourable to you may happen; and in the meantime, let me
implore you not to let your only too just resentment pass beyond the
bounds of reason.

"Sincerely yours,

"RANDOLPH."'

'I like the letter!' cried Zaleski. 'You notice the tone of manly
candour. But the _facts_--were they true? _Did_ the earl make a new
will in the time specified?'

'No,--but that may have been because his death intervened.'

'And in the old will, _was_ Mdlle. Cibras provided for?'

'Yes,--that at least was correct.'

A shadow of pain passed over his face.

'And now,' I went on, 'I come to the closing scene, in which one of
England's foremost men perished by the act of an obscure assassin. The
letter I have read was written to Maude Cibras on the 5th of January.
The next thing that happens is on the 6th, when Lord Pharanx left his
room for another during the whole day, and a skilled mechanic was
introduced into it for the purpose of effecting some alterations. Asked
by Hester Dyett, as he was leaving the house, what was the nature of
his operations, the man replied that he had been applying a patent
arrangement to the window looking out on the balcony, for the better
protection of the room against burglars, several robberies having
recently been committed in the neighbourhood. The sudden death of this
man, however, before the occurrence of the tragedy, prevented his
evidence being heard. On the next day--the 7th--Hester, entering the
room with Lord Pharanx's dinner, fancies, though she cannot tell why
(inasmuch as his back is towards her, he sitting in an arm-chair by the
fire), that Lord Pharanx has been "drinking heavily."

'On the 8th a singular thing befell. The earl was at last induced to
see Maude Cibras, and during the morning of that day, with his own
hand, wrote a note informing her of his decision, Randolph handing the
note to a messenger. Tha