turn is so upset that he is like to kill himself; and if he does, the
girl will do as much, I fear. And all this we could no more help
than the earthquake of the year before last."

"It is very unhappy," said Dick; "but since the man is dead, and
cannot be brought to life again, and since the slayer had no malice
in him, I cannot for the life of me see why he shouldn't get over it
before long. Besides, it was the right man that was killed and not
the wrong. Why should a man brood over a mere accident for ever?
And the girl?"

"As to her," said Walter, "the whole thing seems to have inspired her
with terror rather than grief. What you say about the man is true,
or it should be; but then, you see, the excitement and jealousy that
was the prelude to this tragedy had made an evil and feverish element
round about him, from which he does not seem to be able to escape.
However, we have advised him to go away--in fact, to cross the seas;
but he is in such a state that I do not think he CAN go unless
someone TAKES him, and I think it will fall to my lot to do so; which
is scarcely a cheerful outlook for me."

"O, you will find a certain kind of interest in it," said Dick. "And
of course he MUST soon look upon the affair from a reasonable point
of view sooner or later."

"Well, at any rate," quoth Walter, "now that I have eased my mind by
making you uncomfortable, let us have an end of the subject for the
present. Are you going to take your guest to Oxford?"

"Why, of course we must pass through it," said Dick, smiling, "as we