y
visible.

At that moment the footman entered with a letter upon a massive salver,
and as he walked straight to the old lawyer, he cast quick, furtive
glances at the other occupants of the room.

"A note, eh?" said the old solicitor, balancing his gold-rimmed glasses
upon his nose; "um--um--yes, exactly--very delicate of them to write.
Tell them I will see them shortly, Charles."

The footman bowed, and was retiring as silently as he came over the soft
carpet, when he was checked by the old solicitor.

"You will tell Mr Preenham to see that these gentlemen have every
attention."

"Yes sir."

The footman left the room almost without a sound, for the door was
opened and closed noiselessly. The only thing that broke the terrible
silence that seemed to reign was the faint clink of the silver tray
against one of the metal buttons of the man's coat. As for the
magnificently furnished room, with its heavy curtains and drawn-down
blinds, it seemed to have grown darker, so that the faint gleams of
light that had hung in a dull way on the faces of the great mirrors and
the gilded carving of console and cheffonier, had died out. It required
no great effort of the imagination to believe that the influence of the
dead man who had passed so many solitary years in that shut-up house was
still among them, making itself felt with a weight from which they could
not free themselves.

Paul Capel looked across at the beautiful face of Katrine D'Enghien,
thinking of her creole extraction, and the half French, half American
father who had married his relative. He expected to see her looking
agitated as her cousin, Lydia Lawrence, but she sat back with one arm
gracefully hanging over the side of the chair, her lustrous eyes half
closed; and a pang strongly akin to jealousy shot through him as it
seemed that those eyes were resting on the young elegant at his side.

"Yes," said the old solicitor, suddenly, and his voice made all start
but Miss D'Enghien, who did not even move her eyelids; "as I was
saying," he went on, tapping his snuff-box, "I can tell you very little,
Mr Capel, until the will is read."

"Then there is a will?" said Miss D'Enghien.

The old lawyer's brows wrinkled, as he glanced at her in surprise.

"Yes, my dear young lady, there is a will."

"And it will be read, of course, directly after the funeral?" said the
dark young man.

The lawyer did not reply.

"I suppose you think it's bad form of a man ask