After the servant left the room, except for the opening or shutting of a distant door once or twice, no sounds from without were audible. I neither heard nor saw anything either of Karavich or the others. But scarcely had M. Legros risen from the table, when once more we heard the noise of wheels—the noise as of some heavy vehicle, which, after being driven slowly up to the house, came to a halt. In the hush which followed, one could hear the pawing of the horses on the gravel and the champing of their bits. I noticed that my companion was listening as intently as I was. ‘I must ask you to remain here till I rejoin you,’ he said presently. ‘I shall not be more than a few minutes away;’ and with that he smiled, nodded, and left the room.
I had plenty of food for thought during his absence; but those readers who have followed me thus far will scarcely need to be enlightened as to the tenor of my reflections. They were anything but comforting. Scant time was, however, afforded me for perplexed broodings. Presently, a distant door seemed to open, and then came the half-hushed sound of the footsteps of several people advancing along the corridor into which the door of my room opened, then passing the door itself, and then being gradually lost in the distance. The men, whoever they might be, walked slowly and carefully and as though they were carrying some heavy burden. A few moments later, I could distinguish the voices of several people talking in low tones outside the house. My curiosity overmastered my prudence. The room had two windows, both of them having venetian blinds, now closely shut, and, in addition, long heavy curtains that reached the ground. Crossing quickly to one of the windows, I stepped behind the curtain, and then cautiously raising one of the laths of the blind a little way, I peered through the crevice. The sight which met my eyes was one that might well make the blood of a braver man than I profess to be run cold. The fog had cleared away, and by the aid of the starlight, I could just make out what seemed to me the outlines of a hearse, with a pair of horses, standing a few yards away in the courtyard or space of ground which fronted the house. While I was still staring at this grim apparition, a couple of men carrying lighted lanterns appeared on the scene; then I saw clearly that the object I had been gazing at was indeed a hearse, but denuded of its plumes. But scarcely had I time to note this, when a procession of some half-dozen men appeared, walking two and two, and carrying on their shoulders something long, black, and heavy. For one moment I was puzzled, and then the dread certainty flashed upon me that the burden they bent under was a coffin, but not an empty one. When they came within the dim circle of light given out by the lanterns, it became plainly visible. I could bear no more. I let the blind drop, and turned away with a cold sick dread at my heart, such as I had never felt before. Had a murder just been perpetrated under that silent roof, and if so——? A dozen ghastly questions surged through my brain, not one of which I was able to answer. A few minutes later I heard, through my half-dazed senses, the hearse move away a little distance, and a second vehicle drive up and take its place. Then in came M. Legros in his overcoat and hat.
‘All is in readiness for the second stage of our journey,’ he said as he rubbed his chilled hands for a few moments over the fire.
I did not answer him. He looked sharply at me, and as he did so, a cold, dangerous glitter came into his eyes. His gaze travelled to the window, and then back to my face, and then he muttered something under his breath that sounded like a malediction. He was still bending over the grate; but when next his eyes met mine, all trace of annoyance had vanished.
‘You look as white, my friend, as if you had just seen a ghost,’ he remarked with that inscrutable smile of his. ‘You have gone too long without food. However, there’s no time now. Here, drink this,’ he added; and with that he crossed to the table and poured out a small glass of some sort of liqueur. I took it mechanically and drank it. Then Legros handed me the fur-lined cloak and my hat, and then he said: ‘Once more, and I hope for the last time.’ With that he produced the silk muffler and bandaged my eyes; then taking me by the hand, he led me from the room.
HOW TO PROVE A WILL.
IN ENGLAND.
A great change has come over the procedure in proving wills and obtaining administration in England within the last thirty years. Formerly it was a mysterious, difficult, and expensive process, which few people understood; and he who had to undertake such duties was glad to place himself in the hands of a proctor, and, it may be added, was usually glad to get out of them again. The proceeding is now much more simple and intelligible, and when the property is small, is very inexpensive.
Probate, Administration, and the ‘Death Duties,’ as the taxes levied on inheritances have been appropriately named, are no doubt amongst the gloomiest of topics falling to be discussed in the columns of a popular journal. There are very few people of adult years, however, who have not been forced to make acquaintance with these matters in some form or other and at some time or other; and a brief account of the subject, and of the best and cheapest method of proceeding, may not be without value when the pinch of action arrives. To the poor, the knowledge that a legal title to the little properties left by their relatives can be obtained for a few shillings, and with next to no trouble, would seem to be especially desirable. To richer folk, the subject may recommend itself in another fashion. Constituted as men are, it is very certain that the distribution of property amongst survivors forms a not inconsiderable item of the alleviations provided by Mother Nature for the pain of inevitable losses by death, although the generality of us would undoubtedly refuse to indorse the remarkably frank declaration of a hard-hearted modern poet:
Sweet is a legacy, and passing sweet