May I beg that you will communicate my request, in the strictest confidence, to the medical men in attendance?
They will understand, and you will understand, the vital importance I attach to this interview when I tell you that I have arranged to defer to it all other business claims on me; and that I hold myself in readiness to obey your summons at any hour of the day or night." In those terms the letter ended.

Miss Garth read it twice over.

At the second reading the request which the lawyer now addressed to her, and the farewell words which had escaped Mr.Clare's lips the day before, connected themselves vaguely in her mind.

There was some other serious interest in suspense, known to Mr.Pendril and known to Mr.Clare, besides the first and foremost interest of Mrs.Vanstone's recovery.
Whom did it affect?
The children?
Were they threatened by some new calamity which their mother's signature might avert?
What did it mean?
Did it mean that Mr.Vanstone had died without leaving a will?
In her distress and confusion of mind Miss Garth was incapable of reasoning with herself, as she might have reasoned at a happier time.
She hastened to the antechamber of Mrs.Vanstone's room; and, after explaining Mr.Pendril's position toward the family, placed his letter in the hands of the medical men.

They both answered, without hesitation, to the same purpose.