"It is true my home was for many years at Kilcash House, which is near the Black Rock. But----"
She paused, and a peculiar smile took possession of her face. All eyes were fixed on her in expectation. No one cared to speak. What could that strange break mean? Surely, to describe a scene or phenomenon of the coast with which she was most familiar could not be very distressing?
"But," she resumed, "it is my home no longer. It is true I am going back there for a little time--a few weeks; but that is only to arrange matters. I have now no home."
The voice of the woman was almost free from emotion. It was slightly tremulous towards the end; but if she had been reading aloud a passage she but dimly understood, she could have displayed no less emotion.
"No home!--no home!" said Mr. Paulton, so softly as to be only just audible. "I was under the impression you had been left Kilcash House."
"Yes, my husband left me Kilcash House and other things--other valuable things--and a large sum of money. But----"
Again she paused at the ominous "but."
Again all were silent, and now even Mr. Paulton could not light on words that seemed likely to help the widow over her hesitation.
"But I cannot take anything."
Once more the old man repeated her words: "Cannot take anything! Are the conditions so extraordinary--so onerous?"