she searched behind the shutter for the cottage door-
key, which she placed in his cold hand. Then she kissed his face for the
last time, and with silent little sobs bade him farewell.

Lady Caroline retraced her steps, and reached the mansion without
hindrance; and to her great relief found the window open just as she had
left it. When she had climbed in she listened attentively, fastened the
window behind her, and ascending the stairs noiselessly to her room, set
everything in order, and returned to bed.

The next morning it was speedily echoed around that the amiable and
gentle young villager had been found dead outside his father's door,
which he had apparently been in the act of unlocking when he fell. The
circumstances were sufficiently exceptional to justify an inquest, at
which syncope from heart-disease was ascertained to be beyond doubt the
explanation of his death, and no more was said about the matter then.
But, after the funeral, it was rumoured that some man who had been
returning late from a distant horse-fair had seen in the gloom of night a
person, apparently a woman, dragging a heavy body of some sort towards
the cottage-gate, which, by the light of after events, would seem to have
been the corpse of the young fellow. His clothes were thereupon examined
more particularly than at first, with the result that marks of friction
were visible upon them here and there, precisely resembling such as would
be left by dragging on the ground.

Our beautiful and ingenious Lady Caroline was now in great consternation;
and began to think that, after all, it might have been better to honestly
confess the truth. But having reached this stage without discovery or
suspicion, she determined to make another effort towards concealment; and
a bright idea struck her as a means of securing it. I think I mentioned
that, before she cast eyes on the unfortunate steward's clerk, he had
been the beloved of a certain village damsel, the woodman's daughter, his
neighbour, to whom he had paid some attentions; and possibly he was
beloved of her still. At any rate, the Lady Caroline's influence on the
estates of her father being considerable, she resolved to seek an
interview with the young girl in furtherance of her plan to save her
reputation, about which she was now exceedingly anxious; for by this
time, the fit being over, she began to be ashamed of her mad passion for
her late husband, and almost wished she had never seen