"I cannot drink the wine. It will not take long, I suppose?"
"Mr. Grey says that it is not likely to take more than quarter of an hour. The will is very short."
"Is Mr. Grey in the library?"
"Yes, dear."
"Please, put away that wine; I am ready to go now. You will come with me?"
"Of course, Maud. My place is at your side, poor darling."
Mrs. Grant's words touched some chord in the girl's heart, and she burst into tears, crying:
"Oh, Mrs. Grant, I never felt lonely before. I don't know what I should do, only for you and Mr. Grey."
"Thank you, love. You know I'll stay with you all my life. I have no one of my own to live for; they are all gone. I have no father or mother, or brother or sister, or husband or child. I am as lonely as you, Maud; only you have lost a father and this home, and by and by you will marry and have a new home, a husband, and little ones at your knee; but for me the world is over. Every day I live keeps me further off from my husband; every day you live brings you nearer to yours. Ah, Maud, women have but poor lives of it, and the poor childless widow is worse than the dead." She burst into tears.
"Mrs. Grant," cried the girl, throwing her arms round the woman, "pray, pray forgive me! I have been cruelly selfish, thinking only of my own sorrow and never of yours. Dear Mrs. Grant, do forgive my selfishness!"