She broke down suddenly and began to sob again piteously. Minutes passed before her friend succeeded in calming her once more. “But how could you have saved his life even if Henry had died sooner?” Yootha said presently in a puzzled tone. “Why, a week before, Stephen had written begging me to come to him. He was in great trouble, he declared, something he could not explain in a letter, or, as he put it, ‘dared not explain.’ We had been friends from childhood, as you know, and he had, when a boy, told me many of his secrets. But of course I couldn’t go. What excuse could I have made to Henry? You know the sort of man Henry was, and how he thought it a wife’s ‘duty’ to have no secrets from her husband. Somehow when I got that letter from Stephen the tone in which he wrote frightened me. The thought actually flashed through my mind that he might be contemplating something dreadful, though I did not suspect--that.” “Did he know you were in love with him?” “Yes, he had known it a long time. Also he looked on me as his best friend. What has worried me so since his death is the thought of what can have made him shoot himself. I had heard rumors of his mixing with undesirable people; spending more money than he ought. Those rumors may not have been true. Even if they were, that could not be a reason for him to take his life. I feel convinced that what made him do it was something he was going to tell me.” “Your saying that, Cora, reminds me of Lord Froissart. I hear that he is moving heaven and earth to find out why Vera ended her life--everybody knows that she did end it. I hear he thinks there was some mystery; also I am told--though this may not be true--that he fancies Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson knows the reason. She and Vera were very intimate.” “Oh, Yootha,” Mrs. Hartsilver exclaimed, now fast recovering from her outburst of grief. “I meant to have told you that Lord Froissart is coming here this evening. I kept it secret at first, because he is bringing, at my request, Captain Preston with him. I meant to spring Captain Preston upon you as a surprise, because, as I have told you, I knew all along you were in love with him.” Yootha could hardly contain herself. In her ecstasy of delight she drew her friend to her and kissed her. “How perfectly sweet of you, Cora,” she cried. “And how exactly like you that is, always trying to give people pleasure. How soon will they be here?” “Lord Froissart is dining at his club, and Captain Preston is dining with him. Lord Froissart said he would bring him along after dinner.” And so it came about that three days after the incidents which had occurred in the house with the bronze face, Lord Froissart, Captain Preston, Cora Hartsilver and Yootha Hagerston were gathered together in Cora’s drawing-room in her house in Park Crescent.