'Oh, you poor dear! How can I tell you?'
Lucy looked at her startled and amazed, with a sudden terror in her eyes.
'It is about—about——'
Her lips grew suddenly white, and refused to pronounce the name of the man who for so short a time had been her lover.
'Yes,' Maria said softly, 'it is about Wyatt Edgell.'
'He—he—oh, don't say he is dead!'
Lucy fell on her knees beside the couch and clutched Maria's gown. She was white as a sheet, and her lips were quivering.
Maria Stubbs threw her arms around her, she thought she would have fallen, but Lucy pushed her aside.
'Oh, don't tell me he is dead!' she moaned. 'Don't tell me I have killed him!'
'Hush!' Maria said almost fiercely, but her own eyes were full of tears, and her voice faltered as she spoke. 'It isn't your fault that he is dead. He would have died just the same whether you had given him up or not.'