g up by a nice
gradation to the final announcement, and he went on: "Yes. There is very
little likelihood of his recovering from it."

Olivia looked at him queerly, hesitating. Then she said: "Do you mean
that he's going to be a cripple for life?"

"I mean that he will not live to be a cripple," said Mr. Manley, pleased
to insert a further phrase into his series.

"Is it as bad as that?" she said, in a tone which again gave Mr. Manley
the impression that she was thinking of something else and had not
realized the seriousness of his words.

"I'm sorry to say that it's worse than that. Lord Loudwater is dead," he
said, in his deepest, most sympathetic voice.

"Dead?" she said, in a shocked tone which sounded to him rather forced.

"Murdered," he said.

"Murdered?" cried Olivia, and Mr. Manley had the feeling that there was
less surprise than relief in her tone.

"I have sent for Dr. Thornhill and the police from Low Wycombe," he said.
"They ought to have been here before this. And I am going to telegraph to
Lord Loudwater's solicitors. You would like to have their help as soon as
possible, I suppose. There seems nothing else to be done at the moment."

"Then you don't know who did it?" said Olivia.

Her tone did not display a very lively interest in the matter or any
great dismay, and Mr. Manley felt somewhat disappointed. He had expected
much more emotion from her than she was displaying, even though the death
of her ill-tempered husband must be a considerable relief. He had
expected her to be shocked and horror-stricken at first, before she
realized that she had been relieved of a painful burden. But she seemed
to him to be really less moved by the murder of her husband than she
would have been, had the Lord Loudwater carried out his not infrequent
threat of shooting, or hanging, or drowning the cat Melchisidec.

"No one so far seems to be able to throw any light at all on the crime,"
said Mr. Manley.

Olivia frowned thoughtfully, but seemed to have no more to say on
the matter.

"Well, then, I'll telegraph to Paley and Carrington, and ask Mr.
Carrington to come down," said Mr. Manley.

"Please," said Olivia.

Mr. Manley hesitated; then he said: "And I suppose that I'd better be
getting some one to make arrangements about the funeral?"

"Please do everything you think necessary," said Olivia. "In fact, you'd
better manage everything till Mr. Carrington comes. A man is much better
at arranging importa