He crossed to the door and looked out into the lighted corridor.
No one was visible, and he was about to close the door again, when his sister Edith came suddenly in sight.
He waited until she came up to him, her dark silk dress rustling as she moved hurriedly along.
"Come in, Edith," he said. "I am sorry I was asleep when you came in just now. Why did you not awaken me? I was only dozing. The closing of the door awakened me instantly."
She looked up at him in surprise, and then he saw that her brilliant face was quite pale, and her dark eyes had a strange, unnatural glare in them.
"I have not been in your room since morning," she replied. "What made you think so, Bert?"
"Someone must have come in and gone out again, for I was awakened by the closing of the door, and I thought at first it must have been you. Doubtless it was only a servant. It does not matter. But, Edith, has anything happened? You look pale and strange."
She threw herself down into a chair, and her unnatural calm gave way to a flood of tears.
Mr. Chesleigh was shocked and distressed. He bent over her and entreated her to tell him the cause of her grief.
Checking her tears by a great effort of will, Mrs. Desmond told him all that had passed.