"How much will the house fetch?" wondered her companion; and "La, I wish I had never come," sighed a third, who was very young.
"Hold my hand tight," breathed Miss Boyle.
They mounted the steps Susannah knew so well and entered the open door; here the crowd, coming and going, a little delayed them. They stood for a moment brushed by scented skirts and silk mantles and pierced by careless comment.
In the gorgeous hall stood some of the pictures my lord had delighted in, piled against the wall; cabinets of china, of gold and silver, and packing cases showed through the open door of the dining-room; men were making lists, numbering and valuing. The servants at the foot of the stairs were strange to Susannah.
She spoke to one, putting money into his hand.
"Where does my lord lie?" she asked.
He answered with an air of one weary of replying to the same question. The place was on show, for two days the town had trooped through the rooms, looking at the furniture, at the extravagances of my lord, and at my lord himself.
Selina turned her wide vacant eyes on Susannah.
"Where is he?" she asked.