“She came with me—she saw him when he died,” answered the old man.
“And were you here also?” questioned Lady Catherine, sharply, of the lawyer.
He bowed.
The lady forgot her tears and the grief, which, at first, had disturbed the sacred quiet of that death-chamber.
“Did he send for you?” she continued.
“He did, my lady.”
“And for her?” she cried, with a disdainful wave of the hand toward me.
“His last wish was to see her.”
This evasive, but lawyer-like reply, irritated her afresh.
“What is that in your hand?” she cried; and taking even this wary man by surprise, she reached forth her hand, secured the parchment, and eagerly unrolled it. She began to read; her thin lips grew almost imperceptible; and her light blue eyes, the most cruel color on earth, when filled with malice, became repulsive as those of a venomous reptile. They darted from line to line, growing fiercer and more hideous each instant, till her face became perfectly colorless.