aightened himself, and picking up the lamp led the way back
into the house.

By this time Natalie, though very pale and still shaken, was quite
composed. Indeed, she was now more self-possessed than her brother.
She was doing her utmost to quiet his still painful agitation.

Paul looked into her face, and seeing how strong and resolute it was,
felt no hesitation in speaking before her.

"Sir," he said very quietly to Peter, "Boris is dead."

Peter glanced at him quickly and then turned to his sister.

"Thank heaven!" he cried.

"Hush," said Natalie, gently, and taking her brother by the arm she
pointed to Madame Estelle.

Andrieff had done what he could, and the unhappy woman had, to some
extent, come back to consciousness.

She was indeed sufficiently alive to catch Paul's words. She brought
her fast fading eyes down from the ceiling and searched his face.

"Boris!" she muttered to herself: "Boris!"

Paul drew near and knelt down by the couch. He took one of her hands,
which was even then growing cold.

"Boris?" she asked again in a voice scarcely above a whisper.

Paul put his mouth down to her ear and said slowly, "He is dead."

The shock of the news acted on the woman in a most extraordinary way.
With a convulsive movement she suddenly gathered herself together and
sat bolt upright on the couch. She would have fallen back again had
not Paul caught her in his arms.

The woman opened her mouth and made two or three efforts before she
spoke again, and then she only breathed the word "Boris!"

Paul's gaze wandered over the side-board.

"See if you can find any brandy," he said to Andrieff, who instantly
produced a decanter.

Paul took the glass from his hand and pressed it to Madame Estelle's
lips. She revived a little, and suddenly spoke clearly and in almost
her normal voice.

"Sir Paul," she said, "forgive!" Then her eyes became fixed and
staring, and it was Paul who drew the dead woman's eyelids down.

"Sir Paul," said Peter, earnestly, "it is simply impossible that I
shall ever be able to repay you the great service you have rendered
me. But, believe me, if there is anything in the world it is within my
power to give you, you have but to ask to receive it."

Paul looked across at Natalie, but said nothing. The time had not yet
come when he could ask Peter for that which would a thousand times
repay him.

CHAPTER XXVII

Paul never quite knew how he retraced the distance to the Vse