Making a kind of cradle,by clasping their hands crosswise under the inanimate woman,they lifted her,and walked on side by side down a path indicated by the stranger,who appeared to know the locality well.
I had been sitting in the church for nearly an hour,Knight resumed,when they were out of the churchyard.Afterwards I.
walked round to the site of the fallen tower,and so found her.
It is painful to think I unconsciously wasted so much time in the very presence of a perishing,flying soul.
The tower fell at dusk,did it not?quite two hours ago,I think?
Yes.She must have been there alone.What could have been her object in visiting the churchyard then?
It is difficult to say.The stranger looked inquiringly into the reclining face of the motionless form they bore.Would you turn her round for a moment,so that the light shines on her face?he said.
They turned her face to the moon,and the man looked closer into her features.Why,I know her!he exclaimed.
Who is she?
Mrs.Jethway.And the cottage we are taking her to is her own.
She is a widow;and I was speaking to her only this afternoon.I was at Castle Boterel post-office,and she came there to post a letter.Poor soul!Let us hurry on.
Hold my wrist a little tighter.Was not that tomb we laid her on the tomb of her only son?
Yes,it was.Yes,I see it now.She was there to visit the tomb.Since the death of that son she has been a desolate,desponding woman,always bewailing him.She was a farmers wife,very well educated--a governess originally,I believe.
Knights heart was moved to sympathy.His own fortunes seemed in some strange way to be interwoven with those of this Jethway family,through the influence of Elfride over himself and the unfortunate son of that house.He made no reply,and they still walked on.
She begins to feel heavy,said the stranger,breaking the silence.
Yes,she does,said Knight;and after another pause added,I think I have met you before,though where I cannot recollect.May I ask who you are?
Oh yes.I am Lord Luxellian.Who are you?
I am a visitor at The Crags--Mr.Knight.
I have heard of you,Mr.Knight.
And I of you,Lord Luxellian.I am glad to meet you.
I may say the same.I am familiar with your name in print.
And I with yours.Is this the house?
Yes.
The door was locked.Knight,reflecting a moment,searched the pocket of the lifeless woman,and found therein a large key which,on being applied to the door,opened it easily.The fire was out,but the moonlight entered the quarried window,and made patterns upon the floor.The rays enabled them to see that the room into which they had entered was pretty well furnished,it being the same room that Elfride had visited alone two or three evenings earlier.They deposited their still burden on an old-fashioned couch which stood against the wall,and Knight searched about for a lamp or candle.He found a candle on a shelf,lighted it,and placed it on the table.
Both Knight and Lord Luxellian examined the pale countenance attentively,and both were nearly convinced that there was no hope.No marks of violence were visible in the casual examination they made.
I think that as I know where Doctor Granson lives,said Lord Luxellian,I had better run for him whilst you stay here.
Knight agreed to this.Lord Luxellian then went off,and his hurrying footsteps died away.Knight continued bending over the body,and a few minutes longer of careful scrutiny perfectly satisfied him that the woman was far beyond the reach of the lancet and the drug.Her extremities were already beginning to get stiff and cold.Knight covered her face,and sat down.