"She is said to have gone to foreign parts," said Sir Hugh; "died she there!"
"She did," said Grasp.
"Alas! my poor daughter's dear and only friend!" exclaimed Sir Hugh. And then there was a pause of some moments amongst the party, whilst Grasp, whose heart was as hard and dry as the parchment he idolized, became again so deeply involved amongst his papers, that he seemed to lose sight of everything else around him; nay, even Sir Hugh and Arderne seemed totally to have forgotten his presence. Arderne, indeed, was lost in the thoughts this intelligence had conjured up. He called to mind the exceeding beauty of the high-born lady who thus had made him the heir to all her vast possessions; and as he did so, many little passages between them, during his intimacy with his cousin Charlotte, flashed across his brain. At length, as his eye fell upon Grasp, he again questioned him.
"You were apparently employed," he said, "by the Lady Clara de Mowbray as her lawyer, Master Grasp?"
"I had that honour," said Grasp. "I was the instrument by which, under direction of her major-domo, or house steward, she gathered in her various rents. May I hope for a continuance of favour for the like, from your honour?"
"Know you the circumstances of the lady's decease, and where she died?" inquired Arderne.
"I do," said Grasp, "inasmuch as having been bound for the term of one year to keep the circumstances pertaining to the event secret; that time having now expired, I am at liberty to divulge to this honoured company all I know thereof."
"I pray you to proceed," said Arderne.
"It seemeth, then," said Grasp, "as I am given to understand by the steward or major-domo before-named, that since the melancholy fate of the daughter of the honoured master of this house, and who was (under favour for mentioning it) buried alive——"
"How! buried alive?" said the captain, laying down his pipe, whilst Sir Hugh groaned aloud, rose from his seat, and walked to the window, and Walter Arderne started as if he had received a bullet through his brain.