ers
all." And with this strange speech, mystical to the last, she rode away
into the setting sun, on the gray donkey, looking more like an almshouse
widow than ever.

As for Miss Greeby, she strode out of the camp and out of the Abbot's
Wood, and made for the Garvington Arms, where she had left her baggage.
What Mother Cockleshell knew, she did not guess; what Mother Cockleshell
intended to do, she could not think; but she was satisfied that Chaldea
would in some way pay for her triumph. And the downfall of the girl was
evidently connected with the unravelling of the murder mystery. In a
witchly way, as the old woman would have said herself, she intended to
adjust matters.

"I'll leave things so far in her hands," thought Miss Greeby. "Now for
Silver."

CHAPTER XV.

GUESSWORK.

Whether Miss Greeby found a difficulty, as was probable, in getting
Silver to hand over the forged letter, or whether she had decided to
leave the solution of this mystery to Mother Cockleshell, it is
impossible to say. But she certainly did not put in an appearance at
Lady Agnes Pine's town house to report progress until after the new
year. Nor in the meantime did she visit Lambert, although she wrote to
say that she induced the secretary to delay his threatened exposure. The
position of things was therefore highly unsatisfactory, since the
consequent suspense was painful both to Agnes and her lover. And of
course the widow had been duly informed of the interview at the cottage,
and naturally expected events to move more rapidly.

However, taking the wise advice of Isaiah to "Make no haste in time of
trouble," Agnes possessed her soul in patience, and did not seek out
Miss Greeby in any way, either by visiting or by letter. She attended at
her lawyers' offices to supervise her late husband's affairs, and had
frequent consultations with Garvington's solicitors in connection with
the freeing of the Lambert estates. Everything was going on very
satisfactorily, even to the improvement of Lambert's health, so Agnes
was not at all so ill at ease in her mind as might have been expected.
Certainly the sword of Damocles still dangled over her head, and over
the head of Lambert, but a consciousness that they were both innocent,
assured her inwardly that it would not fall. Nevertheless the beginning
of the new year found her in anything but a placid frame of mind. She
was greatly relieved when Miss Greeby at last condescended to pay her a