not the only nice-looking
woman, married to an old man, who has had a lover."

"Wretch! what has that got to do with it?"

"Everything, you rude girl! My lover was like the rest of them; he would
bet on race-horses, and he lost. He owned it to me, on the day when your
father came to our inn. He said, 'I must find the money--or be off to
America, and say good-by forever.' I was fool enough to be fond of him.
It broke my heart to hear him talk in that way. I said, 'If I find the
money, and more than the money, will you take me with you wherever you
go?' Of course, he said Yes. I suppose you have heard of the inquest
held at our old place by the coroner and jury? Oh, what idiots! They
believed I was asleep on the night of the murder. I never closed my
eyes--I was so miserable, I was so tempted."

"Tempted? What tempted you?"

"Do you think I had any money to spare? Your father's pocketbook tempted
me. I had seen him open it, to pay his bill over-night. It was full of
bank-notes. Oh, what an overpowering thing love is! Perhaps you have
known it yourself."

Emily's indignation once more got the better of her prudence. "Have you
no feeling of decency on your death-bed!" she said.

Mrs. Rook forgot her piety; she was ready with an impudent rejoinder.
"You hot-headed little woman, your time will come," she answered. "But
you're right--I am wandering from the point; I am not sufficiently
sensible of this solemn occasion. By-the-by, do you notice my language?
I inherit correct English from my mother--a cultivated person, who
married beneath her. My paternal grandfather was a gentleman. Did I tell
you that there came a time, on that dreadful night, when I could stay in
bed no longer? The pocketbook--I did nothing but think of that devilish
pocketbook, full of bank-notes. My husband was fast asleep all the time.
I got a chair and stood on it. I looked into the place where the two men
were sleeping, through the glass in the top of the door. Your father
was awake; he was walking up and down the room. What do you say? Was he
agitated? I didn't notice. I don't know whether the other man was asleep
or awake. I saw nothing but the pocketbook stuck under the pillow, half
in and half out. Your father kept on walking up and down. I thought to
myself, 'I'll wait till he gets tired, and then I'll have another look
at the pocketbook.' Where's the wine? The doctor said I might have a
glass of wine when I wanted it."

Emily found the win