The Mysterious Key And What It Opened

nds and Tr

iress e'er

, till, spi

ound in Tr

m, Richard? Not its poetry I fancy." And the young wife laid a slender hand on the

er, and, sitting in a low chair beside her, said in a cheerful tone, though his eyes betrayed some hidden care, "My love, that book is a history of our family for centuries, and that old prophecy has never yet

at the old book, "I read that history once, and fancied it must be a rom

e stormy nature came in with old Sir Ralph, the fierce Norman knight, who killed his only son in a fi

e during a siege, and married her cousin, Count Hugo. 'Tis

kept to ourselves till idiots and lunatics began to appear. My father was the first who broke the law among us, and

I never forget that you took me from a very humble h

d to leave your hills and come to cheer the long-deserted

the boldest, handsomest man in Warwickshire. But lately you loo

my natural anxiety for you-Wel

smile on his lips vanished, leaving them dry and white as he glanced at the card

librar

l co

fore he spoke, with averted eyes: "Only some annoying business,

expression of intense excitement in his face. She said nothing, and lay mo

me; I have a right to know, and he'll forg

committing. A murmur of voices met her ear. Her husband spoke oftenest, and suddenly some word of his dashed the smile from her face as if with a blow. She started, shrank, and shivered, bending lower with set teeth, white cheeks, and pa

ter, the maid, as her mistress glided into the

lp me to my bed, but do

ho never cared to lift it up again. Hester, a sharp-eyed, middle-aged woman, watched the pale creature for a moment, then left

d without waiting to knock she went in, fearing she knew not what. Sir Richard sat at his writing table pen in ha

ady is ill. Shall

his head, saw that he was unconscious, and rang for help. But Richard Trevlyn was past help, though

e can come," sai

she gave the message, Lady Trevlyn answered sternly, "Tell him I will not come," and turned

aring to utter it aloud, but Sir Richard heard it, an

ed herself the happiest woman in England. They thought her dying, and at her own command gave her the sealed letter bearing her address which her husband left behind him. She read

ength. Evening came, and the house was very still, for all the sad bustle of preparation for Sir Richard's funeral was over, and he lay for the last night under his own roof. Hester sat in the darkened chamber of her mistr

watching the feverish glitter of her mistress's eye, the fl

go there; I

began the woman; but Lady Trevlyn seemed not to hear her, and somet

arm cloak, Hester half-led, half-carried her to

, but wait for me here," she said

when she reappeared with no s

id, with a shuddering sigh, as the faithful servan

he ivory oval from the gold case, she locked the former in a tiny drawer of the casket, replaced the empty locket in her br

grieve all your days, even for so good a man as my blessed master.

all the answer as Lady Trevlyn drew

his death died for want of food, for the only person who could have exp

passed in a state of apathy sad to witness. She seemed to have forgotten everything, even the shock which had so sorely stricken her. The sight of her

Lady Trevlyn and no clue could be got from her. Sir Richard had died of heart disease, the physicians said, though he might have lived years had no sudden shock assailed him. There were fe