Violet sank back and covered her face with her hands.
Mr. Thaxton bent over to her and took her hand.
"A great part of my task is done," he said. "I come to prepare you for a great and terrible trial, perhaps of sorrow, perhaps of joy. Tell me, are you strong enough to bear it? Are you strong enough to see the guilty punished, though that guilty were one whom you held dear? Are you strong enough to witness what in your eyes, unprepared, might seem a miracle? Are you strong enough for a great and fearful, a sudden and tremendous joy?"
There was a moment's pause.
"I am!" said Violet, and once more she looked up with her deep, beautiful eyes.
"Then," said Mr. Thaxton, pulling out his watch, "your trial is near at hand. To-night and within ten minutes you expect Mr. and Mrs. Dodson and Mr. Howard Murpoint?"
Violet inclined her head.
"You may also expect Mr. and Mrs. Lennox Fairfax."
"Bertie and Ethel?" said Violet.
Mr. Thaxton nodded.