'What have I done!' she exclaimed. Springing to the tongs she seized
with them the portion of the writing yet unconsumed, and dragged it out
of the fire. Ethelberta appeared at the door.

'Quick, Ethelberta!' said Lady Petherwin. 'Help me to put this out!' And
the two women went trampling wildly upon the document and smothering it
with a corner of the hearth-rug.

'What is it?' said Ethelberta.

'My will!' said Lady Petherwin. 'I have kept it by me lately, for I have
wished to look over it at leisure--'

'Good heavens!' said Ethelberta. 'And I was just coming in to tell you
that I would always cling to you, and never desert you, ill-use me how
you might!'

'Such an affectionate remark sounds curious at such a time,' said Lady
Petherwin, sinking down in a chair at the end of the struggle.

'But,' cried Ethelberta, 'you don't suppose--'

'Selfishness, my dear, has given me such crooked looks that I can see it
round a corner.'

'If you mean that what is yours to give may not be mine to take, it would
be as well to name it in an impersonal way, if you must name it at all,'
said the daughter-in-law, with wet eyelids. 'God knows I had no selfish
thought in saying that. I came upstairs to ask you to forgive me, and
knew nothing about the will. But every explanation distorts it all the