"My Dear Boy,--My wife was taken mortally ill this morning just
before daybreak. She cannot live many hours, our physician says.
Mabel is in a state of complete nervous prostration caused by the
shock of this calamity. I wish you would come to us at once. I fear
for my dear child's reason unless you prove able to calm and quiet
her through this ordeal. Hasten then, my dear son; every moment
before you arrive will seem an age of sorrow and anxiety to me. "S.
LAWRENCE."


A strange smile curved the corners of the Baroness's lips as she
finished reading this note and tiptoed down the stairs to her own
room again.

Meantime the hour for her hot water arrived, and Berene did not
appear. The Baroness drank a quart of hot water every morning as a
tonic for her system, and another quart after breakfast to reduce her
flesh. Her excellent digestive powers and the clear condition of her
blood she attributed largely to this habit.

After a few moments she rang the bell vigorously. Maggie, the
chambermaid, came in answer to the call.

"Please ask Miss Dumont" (Berene was always known to the other
servants as Miss Dumont) "to hurry with the hot water," the Baroness
said.

"Miss Dumont has not yet come downstairs, madame."