"Will he, do you think? I am almost sure he drew it. He is doing so many little things that look as if he knew he were not going to live. I heard Mr. Carstairs ask him to go to Norway with him next spring, and Edward laughed, and said he never looked more than a few months ahead."
"I am afraid he may have said that intending you to hear it."
"But he did not intend me to hear it. I overheard it." Rachel's face fell.
"You did promise after you told me about the letter that you would never do that kind of thing again."
"Well, Rachel, I have not. I have not even looked at his letters since. I could not help it that once, because I thought he might have told his brother in India. But don't you think his saying that to Mr. Carstairs looks—"
Rachel shook her head.
"He is beyond me," she said. "There may be something more behind which we don't know about."
"I have a feeling, it has come over me again and again lately, that I shall be released, and that Hugh and I shall be happy together yet."
And Lady Newhaven turned her face against the high back of her carved oak chair and sobbed hysterically.
"Could you be happy if you had brought about Lord Newhaven's death?" said Rachel.