jor-domo reassured her: he had no lack of self-confidence.

"There is nothing for your ladyship to be afraid of; the house is
perfectly safe, and carefully guarded. Walter, the porter, is a
first-rate watch-dog and always sleeps with one eye open. And I,
too----"

"Yes, I know, Silbertown," the young widow replied; "and when I give
myself time to think I am not nervous. Thank you; you can leave me now."

She turned to the three girls.

"I am tired, dears; we won't stay up any later."

Lisbeth and Susannah kissed her affectionately and went away. Therese
lingered a moment, to bring a book, a Bible, and place it on a table
close to Lady Beltham's chair. Lady Beltham laid a hand upon her head as
if in blessing, and said gently:

"Good night; God bless you, dear child!"

XXI. LORD BELTHAM'S MURDERER

It was on the point of midnight, and absolute stillness reigned
throughout the house.

But Lady Beltham had not gone to bed. Although she had remained in the
great hall where she did her work, she had been unable to settle down to
any occupation. She had read a little, and begun a letter, got up and
sat down; and finally, beginning to feel chilly, she had drawn an easy
chair up to the hearth, where a log was just burning out, and stretching
out her slippers to the warmth had fallen into a waking dream.

A sound caught her ear and she sat upright. At first she thought it was
some trick of the imagination, but in another minute the noise grew
louder; there was the hurrying of feet and voices, muffled at first but
rapidly becoming louder, and at last a regular uproar, doors banging,
glass breaking, and shouts from all parts of the house. Lady Beltham
jumped up, nervous and trembling; she was just going to the window when
she heard a shot and stopped dead where she stood. Then she rushed out
into the vestibule.

"Help!" she screamed. "What on earth is the matter?" and remembering the
girls for whom she had assumed responsibility, she called out anxiously
for them. "Lisbeth! Therese! Susannah! Come to me!"

Doors upstairs were flung open, and with their hair streaming over their
night-dresses Therese and Susannah rushed downstairs and crouched down
by her side, stifling moans of terror.

"Lisbeth? Where is Lisbeth?" Lady Beltham asked sharply.

At the same moment she appeared, her face distorted with fright.

"Oh, Lady Beltham, it's dreadful! There's a man, a burglar in the
garden! And Walter is throttling