Lord Walderhurst only heard one or two sentences.
"I am afraid that nothing, now, can matter--at any moment." * * * * * Those who do not know from experience what he saw when he entered the next room have reason to give thanks to such powers as they put trust in.
There ruled in the large, dim chamber an awful order and silence.

The faint flickering of the fire was a marked sound.

There was no other but a fainter and even more irregular one heard as one neared the bed.
Sometimes it seemed to stop, then, with a weak gasp, begin again.

A nurse in uniform stood in waiting; an elderly man sat on a chair at the bedside, listening and looking at his watch, something white and lifeless lying in his grasp,--Emily Walderhurst's waxen, unmoving hand.
The odour of antiseptics filled the nostrils.

Lord Walderhurst drew near.