The woman still lay motionless. Madge, bending down, caught her by the shoulder, forgetful of all in her desire to impart the amazing news.
"Your husband's fortune's in the wall--we've found it there."
Something on the woman's face, in her utter stillness, seemed to fill her with new alarm. She called to the others.
"Ella!--Mr. Graham! Jack!" Her voice sank to a whisper; there was a catching of her breath. "Is she dead?"
They came hastening towards her. Jack Martyn, stopping halfway, looking round, startled them with a fresh inquiry, to which he himself supplied the answer.
"By George!--I say!--where's Ballingall?--Why, he's gone!"
CHAPTER XIX
[THE WOMAN AND THE MAN]
Yes--the woman was dead. Ballingall had gone--and the fortune was found.
Put in that way, it was a curious sequence of events.