Suddenly the end came. A wail shivered down the corridors, and then, from where I was watching the bedroom door, I saw Lady Gascoyne led out by Edith. After a few minutes the two doctors came out, and in answer to my question, explained that all was over. I carried the news to Mrs. Gascoyne. She was terribly distressed, and asked me to wire for her husband, which of course I did. It suddenly struck me that it might be possible to obtain the decanter that evening at dinner. I supposed there would be dinner. There usually is, even at moments of the greatest stress. Curiously enough, the whole thing once over, I began to recover my nerve rapidly, and by the time Mr. Gascoyne had arrived I was quite myself. I did not know that, even at that moment, the junior doctor was conducting an examination into what Lord Gascoyne had eaten and drunk the evening before, and giving orders that everything which had been left was to remain untouched.
I think such a knowledge would have tempted me to buy some means of retiring from the scene on an emergency. I had not even a loaded revolver. It was evident I was not the clever person I had imagined myself to be.
Mr. Gascoyne could hardly believe the news.
“Israel, it is terrible. There seems to be a curse on the family.” He was silent for a few moments, and then continued thoughtfully: “Israel, has it struck you what this means to you? Failing male heirs, the title descends through a woman. Your grandfather would have been the last male heir, therefore your mother would have succeeded as his heiress, and then you.”
We had talked this over before, but I pretended to think of it deeply, as if it now presented itself to me seriously for the first time.
“Of course, it has struck me, but the possibilities seemed so remote.”
“They are close enough now. It would seem as if Fate had been on your side.”
I certainly hoped that it was. He little knew that that fate in its concrete form was sitting opposite to him.
“What do you think was the cause of death, Israel?”
“Nobody seems quite to know.”