"Pray accept my sincerest sympathy on your great bereavement."

Mrs. Wickham made an effort to bring her mind back from the
all-absorbing fear that possessed her.

"Of course the end was not entirely unexpected."

"No, I know. But it must have been a great shock, all the same."

He was going on to say what a wonderful old lady his late client had
been in that her faculties seemed perfectly unimpaired until the very
last, when Wickham interrupted him. Not only was he most anxious to hear
the will read himself and have it over, but he saw signs in his wife's
face and in the nervous manner in which she rolled and unrolled her
handkerchief, that she was nearing the end of her self-control, never
very great.

"My wife was very much upset, but of course my poor aunt had suffered
great pain, and we couldn't help looking upon it as a happy release."

"Naturally," responded the solicitor sympathetically. "And how is Miss
Marsh?" He was looking at James Wickham as he spoke, so that he missed
the sudden 'I told you so' glance which Mrs. Wickham flashed at her
husband.

"Oh, she's very well," she managed to say with a careless air.

"I'm glad to learn that she is not completely prostrated," said Mr.
Wynne warmly. "Her devotion to Miss Wickham was perfectly wonderful. Dr.