He looked round startled.
"The Earl is dead," said Susannah. "You are here to say that the Earl is dead."
"Alas! madam."
She interrupted him almost fiercely. "I knew—ah, I knew!"
"I have no speech suited to this need. Madam, my task is mournful—I was my lord's friend, and it was last night—I saw him fall—indeed I know not how it happened—my Lord Sandys——"
"He is dead," repeated Susannah; "dead—dead."
For a while there was silence, then she spoke again.
"A duel?"
"A quarrel, an angry word, a pass or two, and my lord fell, the moonlight was confusing; it was all over too quickly."