"Ah! Can it be his wife?" "Madam, his son; a young man of only twenty." "His son! At what time did you say?" "At two o'clock." "Thank you; you are very kind." With uplifted hat, he watched her walk away. It worried him to see a face he did not know. All went off beautifully; but, dining that same evening with his friend, a certain doctor, the old Director asked: "Did you see a lady with grey hair hovering about this afternoon?" The doctor, a tall man, with a beard still yellow, drew his guest's chair nearer to the fire. "I did." "Did you remark her face? A very odd expression--a sort of--what shall I call it?--Very odd indeed! Who is she? I saw her at the grave this morning." The doctor shook his head. "Not so very odd, I think." "Come! What do you mean by that?" The doctor hesitated. Then, taking the decanter, he filled his old friend's glass, and answered: "Well, sir, you were Godwin's greatest chum--I will tell you, if you like, the story of his death. You were away at the time, if you remember." "It is safe with me," said the old Director. "Septimus Godwin," began the doctor slowly, "died on a Thursday about three o'clock, and I was only called in to see him at two. I found him far gone, but conscious now and then. It was a case of--but you know the details, so I needn't go into that. His wife was in the room, and on the bed at his feet lay his pet dog--a terrier; you may recollect, perhaps, he had a special breed. I hadn't been there ten minutes, when a maid came in and whispered something to her mistress. Mrs. Godwin answered angrily, 'See him? Go down and say she ought to know better than to come here at such a time!' The maid went, but soon came back. Could the lady see Mrs. Godwin for just a moment? Mrs. Godwin answered that she could not leave her husband. The maid looked frightened, and went away again. She came back for the third time. The lady had said she must see Dr. Godwin; it was a matter of life and death! 'Death--indeed!' exclaimed Mrs. Godwin: 'Shameful! Go down and tell her, if she doesn't go immediately, I will send for the police!' "The poor maid looked at me. I offered to go down and see the visitor myself. I found her in the dining room, and knew her at once. Never mind her name, but she belongs to a county family not a hundred miles from here. A beautiful woman she was then; but her face that day was quite distorted. "'For God's sake, Doctor,' she said, 'is there any hope?' "I was obliged to tell her there was none. "'Then I must see him,' she said. "I begged her to consider what she was asking. But she held me out a signet ring. Just like Godwin--wasn't it--that sort of Byronism, eh? "'He sent me this,' she said, 'an hour ago. It was agreed between us that if ever he sent that, I must come. If it were only myself I could bear it--a woman can bear anything; but he'll die thinking I wouldn't come, thinking I didn't care--and I would give my life for him this minute!'