And he strode to the nearest bonfire and flung the will into it. The smoke eddied, and blew suddenly towards them. The fire hesitated a moment, and then, as Annette gazed stupefied, a little flame curled busily along the open sheet. Before he knew she had moved, she had rushed past him, and had thrust her hands into the fire and torn out the burning paper. The flame ran nimbly up her arm, devouring her thin sleeve, and he had only just time to beat it out with his hands before it reached her hair. He drew her out of the smoke and held her forcibly. She panted hard, sobbing a little. The will gripped tight in her hand was pressed against her breast and his. "Annette!" he said hoarsely, over and over again. Still holding the will fast, she drew away from him, and opened it with trembling, bleeding fingers, staining the sheet. "It is safe," she said. "It's safe. It's only scorched. You can see the writing quite clear through the brown. Look, Roger, but you mustn't touch it. I can't trust you to touch it. _It is safe._ Only the bottom of the sheet is burnt where there wasn't anything written. Look! Dick's name is there, and the doctor's, and the notary's. Only mine is gone.... Oh, Roger! Now my name is gone, the will is--just about right, isn't it?" Roger drew in his breath, and looked at the blood-smeared, smoke-stained page. "It is all right now," he said in a strangled voice. And then he suddenly fell on his knees and hid his convulsed face in her gown. "You mustn't cry, Roger. And you mustn't kiss the hem of my gown. Indeed, you mustn't. It makes me ashamed. Nor my hands: they're quite black. Oh! how my poor Roger cries!" THE END _Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_ * * * * * _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ MOTH AND RUST Together with Geoffrey's Wife and the Pitfall 2s. 6d. net " ... A fine story, admirably told."--_World._ "The best short stories written in English that we have read."--_Times._ " ... Admirable alike as a story and as a presentation of human character.... We must not give away too many of the details of a story which, besides being well put together, is exceptionally well written."--_Globe._ "Miss Cholmondeley's new book will distinctly add to an already high reputation.... We have rarely met in recent fiction two more thoroughly real and convincing characters than Lady Anne Varney and Wilson the millionaire.... It is rare indeed that any one displays so great an aptitude for the long and the short story, and Miss Cholmondeley can be heartily congratulated on her success in this volume."--_Pall Mall Gazette._ "A delectable story. Here we have a high-born lady who really understands the meaning of love, and a millionaire who positively attracts--a rare thing in a novel. Life is portrayed as it is, not as the conventional fictionist imagines it, and portrayed with a genuine artistic touch."--_Outlook._ THE LOWEST RUNG 2s. 6d. net