and permitted her to go and live with her husband, near

Then the present regained its sway. He heard her name again, and this time it sounded less like a call and more like the welcoming cry of meeting spirits. Was death to end this separation? Had he found the true 0. B., only to behold another and final seal fall upon this closely folded mystery? In his fear of this possibility, he caught at Doris' hand as she was about to bound away, and eagerly asked:

"When was Mr. Brotherson taken ill? Tell me, I entreat you; the exact day and, if you can, the exact hour. More depends upon this than you can readily realise.

She wrenched her hand from his, panting with impatience and a vague alarm. But she answered him distinctly:

"On the Twenty-fifth of last month, just an hour after he was made manager. He fell in a faint at the Works."

The day - the very day of Miss Challoner's death!

"Had he heard - did you tell him then or afterwards what happened in New York on that very date?"

"No, no, we have not told him. It would have killed him - and may yet."

"Edith! Edith! came again through the hush, a hush so deep that Sweetwater received the impression that the house was empty save for patient and nurse.