“Wait a little,” said Mrs. Rook. “Everything in its right place, is my motto. I mustn’t begin with the pocketbook. Why did I begin with it? Do you think this veil on my face confuses me? Suppose I take it off. But you must promise first--solemnly promise you won’t look at my face. How can I tell you about the murder (the murder is part of my confession, you know), with this lace tickling my skin? Go away--and stand there with your back to me. Thank you. Now I’ll take it off. Ha! the air feels refreshing; I know what I am about. Good heavens, I have forgotten something! I have forgotten _him_. And after such a fright as he gave me! Did you see him on the landing?” “Who are you talking of?” Emily asked. Mrs. Rook’s failing voice sank lower still. “Come closer,” she said, “this must be whispered. Who am I talking of?” she repeated. “I am talking of the man who slept in the other bed at the inn; the man who did the deed with his own razor. He was gone when I looked into the outhouse in the gray of the morning. Oh, I have done my duty! I have told Mr. Rook to keep an eye on him downstairs. You haven’t an idea how obstinate and stupid my husband is. He says I couldn’t know the man, because I didn’t see him. Ha! there’s such a thing as hearing, when you don’t see. I heard--and I knew it again.” Emily turned cold from head to foot. “What did you know again?” she said. “His voice,” Mrs. Rook answered. “I’ll swear to his voice before all the judges in England.” Emily rushed to the bed. She looked at the woman who had said those dreadful words, speechless with horror. “You’re breaking your promise!” cried Mrs. Rook. “You false girl, you’re breaking your promise!” She snatched at the veil, and put it on again. The sight of her face, momentary as it had been, reassured Emily. Her wild eyes, made wilder still by the blurred stains of rouge below them, half washed away--her disheveled hair, with streaks of gray showing through the dye--presented a spectacle which would have been grotesque under other circumstances, but which now reminded Emily of Mr. Rook’s last words; warning her not to believe what his wife said, and even declaring his conviction that her intellect was deranged. Emily drew back from the bed, conscious of an overpowering sense of self-reproach. Although it was only for a moment, she had allowed her faith in Mirabel to be shaken by a woman who was out of her mind. “Try to forgive me,” she said. “I didn’t willfully break my promise; you frightened me.” Mrs. Rook began to cry. “I was a handsome woman in my time,” she murmured. “You would say I was handsome still, if the clumsy fools about me had not spoiled my appearance. Oh, I do feel so weak! Where’s my medicine?” The bottle was on the table. Emily gave her the prescribed dose, and revived her failing strength.