any one
room, but roamed about the convent, and through all its departments and
offices, until, at length, she was met in the main corridor by the
abbess, who gravely took her hand, drew it within her arm, and led her
along, saying:

"Come into my parlor, child. The Duke of Hereward has arrived."

CHAPTER XLVII.

THE END OF A LOST LIFE.

The Duke of Hereward knew nothing of his wife's presence in the Convent
of St. Rosalie.

On his arrival, soon after five o'clock, he was met by the portress, who
ushered him into the receiving parlor and sent to warn the abbess of his
presence.

The abbess dispatched a message to the surgeon in attendance upon John
Scott, and then sought out the young duchess to inform her of her
husband's arrival.

Meantime Dr. Dubourg hurried down to the receiving-parlor to see the
Duke of Hereward. They were strangers to each other, so the portress
introduced them.

"I hope your patient is better, Monsieur le Docteur," said the duke, when
the first salutations were over.

"No, I regret to say. There is, indeed, no hope. The poor man has been
sinking since morning. He is most anxious to see your grace, before he
dies, and that very anxiety, I think, has kept him up," gravely replied
the physician.

"I am sorry to hear that. Is he in condition to see me now? Will not the
interview tend to excite him and shorten his life?" anxiously inquired
the duke.

"It may do so; but, on the other hand, his failure to see you might prove
fatal to him sooner than his wound would. The fact is, sir, the man is
doomed; his hours are numbered, and he knows it. He is eager to see you;
he seems to have something weighing upon his mind, which he wishes to
confide to you. He has been saving his little strength for an interview
with you. He has refused to speak to any one, lest he should waste his
forces and be too weak to talk to you."

"I will go to him, then, at once," said the duke.

"Do so, your grace, and I will attend you," said the doctor with a bow.

The duke arose and followed the doctor through the long corridors and
narrow passages leading from the Nunnery to the Old Men's Home.

On their way thither, the duke inquired how the patient had received that
fatal wound, of which his grace had only heard a vague report from scraps
of conversation among the officials at the L'Ange Railway Depot.

The doctor gave him a brief account of the arrest and the suicide.

The duke made no comment,