ng out blankly. Her face was paler than usual, the
lines of the mouth more rigid, her hair even more coldly absent and
abstracted. Her pupils had spoken to her half a dozen times, and she
had not heard them, would not have heard them now, had not Tom tugged
impatiently at her gown.

"Why, to the park, as we did last week? Can't we go?"

"I don't know; we will see. Get on with your lessons now. What is that?
Come in."

A tap had sounded at the door, which was now opened, and the Doctor
entered. The children scrambled down from their seats and ran to him.
Miss Boucheafen, turning from the window, arched her straight brows
with an expression of questioning surprise. For Doctor Brudenell to
appear in the school-room at that hour in the morning was an
unprecedented event.

"Good-morning, Mademoiselle." He took the cold, carelessly-yielded hand
into his own for a moment. "Don't let me disturb you. I simply came up
to express my hope that you were not alarmed last night."

"Alarmed?" echoed Alexia.

"Then you did not hear it?"--with a look of mingled relief and
astonishment. "Well, I am glad of it. But you must sleep very soundly.
You were the only person in the house who was not aroused."

"I sleep very soundly." She looked at him keenly, noting that his face
was drawn and that his eyes were dull, showing that he had not slept.
"I did not know there was anything wrong. Not here, I hope?"

"No, not here exactly; but it is a most horrible thing." He drew a pace
nearer to her, dropping his voice so that the sharp little ears that
were all eagerly listening should not catch the words. "A most horrible
thing. A murder, Mademoiselle!"

"A murder?" repeated Alexia.

"Nothing less; and not a hundred yards away from this door."

Miss Boucheafen had leaned back, almost fallen, against the
window-frame. She was so pale that he said hastily:

"I beg your pardon--I spoke too abruptly. I have frightened you."

"No, no; I am not frightened. Go on, pray! How was it? Who was it?"

"As to who it was--a man. As to how it was, he was stabbed to the
heart," answered the Doctor shortly.

"And he was found dead, and brought here?"

"Yes, at three o'clock this morning, and brought here by the police.
But he was dead, and had been dead for at least half an hour. I could
do nothing."

"How horrible--how very horrible!" murmured Alexia. "Did you say, sir,
that he was an old man?"

"No; he is little more than a lad--a mere boy--ni