the
staircase. All thought that an end had come to the harrowing scene, and
minister and people faced each other once more; when, loud and sharp from
above, there rang down the shrill cry of delirium, this time in
articulate words which even the children could understand:

"Break it open, I say! break it open, and see if her heart is there!"

It was too awful. Men and women and children leaped to their feet and
dashed away into the streets, uttering smothered cries and wild
ejaculations. In vain the clergyman raised his voice and bade them
respect the dead; the rooms were well-nigh empty before he had finished
his appeal. Only the very old uncle and the least of the children
remained of all who had come there in memory of their departed kinswoman
and friend.

The little one had fled to the old man's arms before he could rise, and
was now held close to his aged and shaking knees, while he strove to
comfort her and explain.

Soon these, too, were gone, and the casket was refastened and carried out
by the shrinking bearers, leaving in those darkened rooms a trail of
desolation which was only broken from time to time by the now faint and
barely heard reiteration of the name of her who had just been borne away!

"Lila! Lila!"

XIII

"WHAT WE WANT IS HERE"

I'll tell you, by the way,
The greatest comfort in the world.
You said
There was a clew to all.
Remember, Sweet,
He said there was a clew!
I hold it.
Come!

_A Blot in the 'Scutcheon._

Sweetwater, however affected by this scene, had not lost control of
himself or forgotten the claims of duty. He noted at a glance that, while
the candid looking stranger, whose lead he had been following, was as
much surprised as the rest at the nature of the interruption--which he
had possibly anticipated and for which he was in some measure
prepared--he was, of all present, the most deeply and peculiarly
impressed by it. No element of fear had entered into his emotion; nor had
it been heightened by any superstitious sense. Something deeper and more
important by far had darkened his thoughtful eye and caused that ebb and
flow of colour in a cheek unused, if Sweetwater read the man aright, to
such quick and forcible changes.

Sweetwater took occasion, likewise, while the excitement was at its
height, to mark what effect had been made on the servants by the action
and conduct of young Cumberland. "They know him better than we do," was
his inner comment; "what do