"There is a man come from Great Keynes," began the maid, but Kate stopped her. "Come in, Mistress Isabel," she said, "my father is waiting for you." Dr. Carrington met her at the dining-room door; and his face was tender and full of emotion. "What is it?" whispered the girl sharply. "Anthony?" "Dear child," he said, "come in, and be brave." There was a man standing in the room with cap and whip in hand, spurred and splashed from head to foot; Isabel recognised one of the grooms from the Hall. "What is it?" she said again with a piteous sharpness. Dr. Carrington laid his hands gently on her shoulders, and looked into her eyes. "It is news of your father," he said, "from Lady Maxwell." He paused, and the steady gleam of his eyes strengthened and quieted her, then he went on deliberately, "The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken it." He paused as if for an answer, but no answer came; Isabel was staring white-faced with parted lips into those strong blue eyes of his: and he finished: "Blessed be the name of the Lord." CHAPTER XII A WINDING-UP The curtained windows on the ground-floor of the Dower House shone red from within as Isabel and Dr. Carrington, with three or four servants behind, rode round the curving drive in front late on the Monday evening. A face peeped from Mrs. Carroll's window as the horse's hoofs sounded on the gravel, and by the time that Isabel, pale, wet, and worn-out with her seventy miles' ride, was dismounted, Mistress Margaret herself was at the door, with Anthony's face at her shoulder, and Mrs. Carroll looking over the banisters. Isabel was not allowed to see her father's body that night, but after she was in bed, Lady Maxwell herself, who had been sent for when he lay dying, came down from the Hall, and told her what there was to tell; while Mistress Margaret and Anthony entertained Dr. Carrington below.