at the time--further drew her attention to these by telling her
that Lord Pharanx had chosen to bring together in his apartment many of
the family jewels; and she was instructed to tell the other servants of
this fact, in case they should notice any suspicious-looking loafers
about the estate.

'On the 10th, both father and son remained in their rooms all day,
except when the latter came down to meals; at which times he would lock
his door behind him, and with his own hands take in the earl's food,
giving as his reason that his father was writing a very important
document, and did not wish to be disturbed by the presence of a
servant. During the forenoon, Hester Dyett, hearing loud noises in
Randolph's room, as if furniture was being removed from place to place,
found some pretext for knocking at his door, when he ordered her on no
account to interrupt him again, as he was busy packing his clothes in
view of a journey to London on the next day. The subsequent conduct of
the woman shows that her curiosity must have been excited to the utmost
by the undoubtedly strange spectacle of Randolph packing his own
clothes. During the afternoon a lad from the village was instructed to
collect his companions for a science lecture the same evening at eight
o'clock. And so the eventful day wore on.

'We arrive now at this hour of eight P.M. on this 10th day of January.
The night is dark and windy; some snow has been falling, but has now
ceased. In an upper room is Randolph engaged in expounding the elements
of dynamics; in the room under that is Hester Dyett--for Hester has
somehow obtained a key that opens the door of Randolph's room, and
takes advantage of his absence upstairs to explore it. Under her is
Lord Pharanx, certainly in bed, probably asleep. Hester, trembling all
over in a fever of fear and excitement, holds a lighted taper in one
hand, which she religiously shades with the other; for the storm is
gusty, and the gusts, tearing through the crevices of the rattling old
casements, toss great flickering shadows on the hangings, which
frighten her to death. She has just time to see that the whole room is
in the wildest confusion, when suddenly a rougher puff blows out the
flame, and she is left in what to her, standing as she was on that
forbidden ground, must have been a horror of darkness. At the same
moment, clear and sharp from right beneath her, a pistol-shot rings out
on her ear. For an instant she stands in stone, in