“Janetta!” wildly.
“Oh, madame, the train was wrecked scarcely a mile further on, and people were killed—some of them—others were wounded, and may die! They are bringing them back here—that was the noise we heard—the tramping of feet that woke you. Oh, I have shocked you, breaking this so abruptly; but I did not think, I was so excited. Pardon me, dear lady. Of course there were none of your friends, as all were strangers to us.”
“All strangers!” gasped Mrs. Varian in a hollow voice, with terror in her eyes, as she clung to Janetta’s soothing hands.
The excited maid ran on breathlessly:
“Those people you noticed in front of us, madame—oh, it was dreadful! The sick woman escaped unhurt, but the servant was badly injured, and the man—Mr. Dawn they say his name is—was killed outright.”
CHAPTER XXXV.
CINTHIA’S BETROTHAL.
Arthur Varian was roused at midnight by the reception of a startling telegram from his mother:
“Everard Dawn fatally injured in a railway accident here. Come at once, and bring Cinthia.”
He staggered to a chair, groaning aloud!
“So this is the sorrowful end!”