said Lady Belgrade, who stood by too deeply awed for tears,
and up to this moment for action either--"my lord, you had better go out
of the room for the present, and take all these men with you, and leave
Miss Levison to the care of myself and the women. This is all unspeakably
horrible! But our first care should be for her. We must loosen her dress,
and take other measures for her recovery."

"Yes, yes! Great Heaven! yes! Do all you can for her! This is maddening!"
groaned the marquis, smiting his forehead as he left the bedside,
yielding his place to the dowager.

"Do try to command yourself, Lord Arondelle. This is, indeed, a most
awful shock. It would have been awful at any time, but on your wedding
day it comes with double violence. But do summon all your strength of
mind, for _her_ sake. Think of her. She came to this room in her
bridal dress to call her father, that he might get ready to take her to
the altar, to give her to you, and she found him here murdered--weltering
in his blood. It was enough to have killed her, or unseated her reason
forever," said the lady, as she busied herself with unfastening the rich,
white, satin bodice of the wedding robe.

"Oh, Salome! Salome! that I could bear this sorrow for you! Oh, my
darling, that all my love should be powerless to save you from a sorrow
like this!" cried the young man, dropping his head upon his clenched
hands.

"My lord," continued Lady Belgrade, who was now applying a vial of sal
ammonia to her patient's nostrils: "my dear Lord Arondelle, rouse
yourself for her sake! She has no father, brother, or male relative to
take direction of affairs in this awful crisis of her life. You, her
betrothed husband, should do it--must do it! Rouse yourself at once. Look
at this stupefied and gaping crowd of people! Do not be like one of them.
Something must be done at once. Do WHAT OUGHT TO BE DONE!" she
cried with sudden vehemence.

"I know what should be done, and I will do it," said the young man, in
a tone of mournful resolution. Then turning to the crowd that filled the
chamber of horror, he said:

"My friends we must leave this room for the present to the care of Lady
Belgrade and her female attendants."

Then to the dowager he said:

"My lady, let one of your maids cover that body with a sheet and let no
one move it by so much as an inch, until the arrival of the coroner. As
soon as it is possible to do so, you will of course have Miss Levison
conveyed to