Someone touched me on the arm. I turned. It was Margaret! "George, what is the matter?" "Margaret!" My voice trembled. There was a choking in my throat. I wished to take her in my arms before them all. It might be a last embrace. "George, tell me, what is wrong?" I made an effort to pull myself together. "Oh! there's nothing wrong. I--I'm only a bit upset." She put her arm through mine. She led me across the room. I required leading. She drew me into an alcove, which was formed by a window bay. "Now, George, tell me what is wrong. I know there is something wrong. Tell me what it is." I was at a loss for words. I trifled with her. "Margaret! What do you mean?" "George, was"--her voice sank to a whisper--"was there anything wrong about that stuff you gave us?" What could I say to her? "It--it was a mistake drinking it after dinner." "Is that all? Was it the right stuff, George?" "It--it was the stuff Hughes gave me." "You are trifling with me? I know that there is something wrong. I can see it in your manner and in Mr. Hughes's. See how strangely Mr. Hughes is behaving now." I peeped round the corner. Hughes was behaving strangely. He was frantically urging Mrs. Chalmers to stand up and dance, though anyone looking less like dancing than she did I never saw. He was evidently forgetting his own axiom--keep cool. A curious qualm came over me. Almost without knowing it I leaned for support against the wall. "George! What is the matter? You are ill." Margaret's eager face looked into mine. "It will be all right in a minute." "It won't! I know it won't! Tell me what it is. There was something the matter with that stuff you gave us. I knew it directly I had swallowed it. Do you think I am a coward? Do you think I am afraid? But it is only fair that you should tell me. If you won't tell me, George, I will go to Mr. Hughes and insist upon his telling me." "Don't, Margaret. The doctor will be here directly." "The doctor?" She drew herself straight up. A strange look came into her eyes. She spoke almost in a whisper. "What is the doctor coming for?" "Hughes thought that he had better come." "Is it so bad as that? George, what was that stuff you gave us?" "I have not said that it was anything. The--the dose was too strong." "Was it poison?" "Margaret!" I took her two hands in mine. She came into my arms. I held her to my breast. "Was it poison? If you love me half as much as I love you you will tell me, George." "Margaret!" "What poison was it?" "Laudanum!" She drew herself away from me. She looked at me with her great wide open eyes. Then her eyes were closed. Before I had the least suspicion of what was going to happen she had fallen to the ground. I knelt beside her. "Margaret!" I cried. I cried to her in vain. I was seized with a great horror. "She is dead!" I exclaimed. Hughes came running forward. I almost sprang at him. "You have killed her!" "Don't be an idiot, Lucas! She _can't_ be dead!"