f
my lord's suspicions are once awakened, the consequences will be
terrible. Under certain provocations, the noble Montbarry is a man who
would stick at nothing. However, the pay is good--and I can't afford
to talk of leaving the place, like my lady's maid.'

Agnes handed back the letters--so suggestive of the penalty paid
already for his own infatuation by the man who had deserted her!--with
feelings of shame and distress, which made her no fit counsellor for
the helpless woman who depended on her advice.

'The one thing I can suggest,' she said, after first speaking some kind
words of comfort and hope, 'is that we should consult a person of
greater experience than ours. Suppose I write and ask my lawyer (who
is also my friend and trustee) to come and advise us to-morrow after
his business hours?'

Emily eagerly and gratefully accepted the suggestion. An hour was
arranged for the meeting on the next day; the correspondence was left
under the care of Agnes; and the courier's wife took her leave.

Weary and heartsick, Agnes lay down on the sofa, to rest and compose
herself. The careful nurse brought in a reviving cup of tea. Her
quaint gossip about herself and her occupations while Agnes had been
away, acted as a relief to her mistress's overburdened mind. They were
still talking quietly, when they were startled by a loud knock at the
house door. Hurried footsteps ascended the stairs. The door of the
sitting-room was thrown open violently; the courier's wife rushed in
like a mad woman. 'He's dead! They've murdered him!' Those wild
words were all she could say. She dropped on her knees at the foot of
the sofa--held out her hand with something clasped in it--and fell back
in a swoon.

The nurse, signing to Agnes to open the window, took the necessary
measures to restore the fainting woman. 'What's this?' she exclaimed.
'Here's a letter in her hand. See what it is, Miss.'

The open envelope was addressed (evidently in a feigned hand-writing)
to 'Mrs. Ferrari.' The post-mark was 'Venice.' The contents of the
envelope were a sheet of foreign note-paper, and a folded enclosure.

On the note-paper, one line only was written. It was again in a
feigned handwriting, and it contained these words:

'To console you for the loss of your husband'

Agnes opened the enclosure next.

It was a Bank of England note for a thousand pounds.

CHAPTER VI

The next day, the friend and legal adviser of Agnes Lockwood, Mr.