"Perhaps there may be some mistake. How did you hear it?"

"Your Uncle Mitchell sent a boy to tell me why he was detained.
There has been a coroner's inquest, and of course, as an old and
intimate friend of General Darrington's, Mitchell feels he must do
all he can. Poor old gentleman! So proud and aristocratic! To be
murdered in his own house, like any common pauper! Positively it
makes me sick. May the Lord have mercy on his soul."

"Amen!" murmured Leo.

"Will you go with me to Elm Bluff?"

"Oh, no! Not for worlds. Why should I? Women will only be in the
way; and who could desire to contemplate so horrible a spectacle? It
will merely harrow your feelings, Aunt Patty, and you can do no
good."

"It is my Christian duty as a neighbor; and I was always very fond
of the first Mrs. Darrington, Helena Tracey. What is this wicked
world coming to? Robbery and murder stalking bare-faced through the
land. It will be a dreadful blow to Mitchell, because he and Luke
Darrington have been intimate all their lives. I see the carriage
coming round, so I must get my bonnet and wrap."

"I presume Mr. Dunbar is engaged in the same melancholy details
which occupy my uncle."

"Doubtless he is, because his father was General Darrington's