.
She pulled herself together, however, and things became very
interesting for me, I can tell you.

"Mr. M---- he was going to take her hands and kiss her, but she
drew them away and stood back. Lord! how awful her face did look!
It gave me a regular turn just to look at her.

"'Bernard!' she cried out in a low, shaking voice, 'I know
all--all!'

"'What do you mean, mother?' he asked.

"Then she stretched her arms up, and it was dreadful to look at
her.

"'I had a dream!' she cried, 'a dream which kept me shuddering
and sleepless from midnight to daybreak. I dreamed I saw
him--dead--cold and dead!'

"He said nothing, but he seemed fearfully upset. I kept crouched
down behind a shrub and listened.

"'In the morning I sent for a file of English newspapers,' she went
on. 'One by one I searched them through till I came to August last
year. There I found it. Bernard, it was at Thurwell Court. I had a
letter in my pocket from you with the postmark Thurwell. Don't come
near me, but speak! Is there blood upon your hands?'

"And now, dad, the most provoking things happened. It seemed just
as though it were done to spite me. He had his mouth open to
answer, and I had my ears open, as you may guess, to listen, and
see what happens, and tell me if it wasn't a rare sell! Off the old
woman goes into a faint all of a sudden. He catches hold of her and
sings out for help. Down I ran to the door as hard as I could,
slammed it as though I had just come in, and came running up the
path. 'Anything the matter?' I called out, as though I didn't know
my way. 'A lady fainted,' he shouts; 'come and help me carry her
into the house;' so up I went, and together we carried her inside
and laid her on a couch in one of the queerest-furnished rooms I
ever saw. There was servants with lighted lamps running about, and
another woman who seemed to be a relation, and such a fuss they all
made, and no mistake. However, Mr. M---- cooled them all down
again pretty soon, for he could see that it was only an ordinary
faint, and then he began to look at me curiously. I had made up my
mind to stay until the old woman came round, but he was too many
for me, for he got up and took me to the door himself. Of course,
he was awfully polite and all that, and was very