"From the window of this room the summer-house can be seen, and my lady for an hour or two each day sat at the window, gazing vacantly out.
"On the evening of the fifth day my lady said:
"'Denise, there have been workmen busily engaged about the summer-house. What are they doing?'
"I bore in mind my master's remark to me that I was at liberty to repeat to my lady what had been said by him and M. Gabriel in their last interview. It was evident that he wished her to be made acquainted with it, and it was my duty to be faithful to him as well as to my lady. I informed her of my master's resolve to fasten the doors of the summer-house and never to allow them to be opened during his lifetime.
"'There are only two more days,' she said, 'to-morrow and the next.'
"I prayed silently that she would not take the fancy in her head to visit the summer-house before it was fastened up, knowing the shock that the sight of the black walls would cause her.
"The next day she did not refer to the subject, but the next, which was the last, she sat at the window watching the workmen bring their tools and bars and bolts to complete the work for which they had been engaged.
"'Come with me, Denise,' she said. 'A voice whispers to me that there is something concealed in the summer-house which I must see before it is too late.'
"'My lady,' I said, trembling, 'I would not go if I were in your place.'
"I could not have chosen worse words.