Whereupon The great man with wide eyes stared in the eyes Of Merival, was speechless for a moment, Not knowing what to say, while Merival Read something in his eyes, saw in his eyes The secret beat to cover, saw the man Turn head away which shook a little, saw His chest expand for breath, and heard at last The editor in four steel bullet words, "It is not necessary." Merival Had trapped the solitary fox--arose And going said: "If it was suicide The inquest must be changed." The editor Looked through the window at the coroner Walking the gravel walk, and saw his hand Unlatch the iron gate, and saw him pass From view behind the trees. Then horror rose Within his brain, a nameless horror took The heart of him, for fear this coroner Would dig this secret up, and show the world The dead face of the woman self-destroyed, And of the talk, which would not come to him, To poison air he breathed no less, of why This woman took her life; if for ill health Then why ill health? O, well he knew at heart What he had done to break her, starve her life. And now accused himself too much for words, Ways, temperament of him that murdered her, For lovelessness, and for deliberate hands That pushed her off and down. He rode that day To see his cattle, overlook the work, But when night came with silence and the cry Of night-hawks, and the elegy of leaves Beneath the stars that looked so cold at him As he turned seeking sleep, the dreaded pain Grew stronger in his breast. Dawn came at last And then the stir and voices of the maids. And after breakfast in the carven room Archibald Lowell standing by the mantel In his great library, felt sudden pain; Saw sudden darkness, nothing saw at once, Lying upon the marble of the hearth; His great head cut which struck the post of brass In the hearth's railing--only a little blood! Archibald Lowell being dead at last; The _Times_ left to the holders of the stock Who kept his policy, and kept the _Times_ As if the great man lived. And Merival Taking the doctor's word that death was caused By angina pectoris, let it drop. And went his way with Elenor Murray's case. * * * * * So Lowell's dead and buried; had to die, But not through Elenor Murray. That's the Fate That laughs at greatness, little things that sneak From alien neighborhoods of life and kill. And Lowell leaves a will, to which a boy-- Who sold the _Times_ once, afterward the _Star_-- Is alien as this Elenor to the man Who owned the _Times_. But still is brought in touch With Lowell's will, because this Lowell died Before he died. And Merival learns the facts And brings them to the jury in these words:-- WIDOW FORTELKA