"Ah, Mrs. Lonsdale; this is Mr. Burke speaking, Mr. Franklin Burke, of the Cosmos Club. I am making an effort to get into touch with friends of Mr. Richard Ayling, and I am told by a man named Chedsey, who I believe was at one time in your employ, that Mr. Ayling is an old friend of your family." "Yes," she said, "we are old friends." "You knew, then, I presume, that Mr. Ayling had gone away--to the country some days ago." "Yes," she said, again, "I knew that he had not been well and that he had gone out of town for a week.... Is there--anything?" Her heart was beating very loudly in her ears. "I dislike to be the bearer of bad news, Mrs. Lonsdale, but I must tell you that we have received a telephone message here at the club that--I hope it will not shock you too much--that Mr. Ayling died sometime to-day, at an inn where he was staying, at Homebury St. Mary, I believe." His voice was very gentle and concerned. She hesitated perceptibly, and his voice came over the wire, "I'm sorry--very sorry, to tell you in this way--" She heard herself speaking: "Naturally, I--it's something of a shock...." "Indeed I understand." Again she caught the sound of her own voice, as if it belonged to some one else, "I suppose it was his heart." "He was known to have a bad heart?" "Yes; it has been weak for years." "I wonder, Mrs. Lonsdale, if I may ask a favor of you. You know, of course, that Mr. Ayling had very few close friends in London; you are, in fact, the only one we have been able, on this short notice, to find. For that reason I am going to ask that you let me come to see you this afternoon; you will understand that there are certain formalities, facts which it will be necessary for us to have, which only an old friend of Mr. Ayling could give--that we could get in no other way...." "I understand, perfectly." "Then I may come?" "Certainly." ... There was nothing else she could say. * * * * * She did not know how she got rid of her guest, what explanation she made, nor how she happened to be saying good-by to her at the very moment when the dignified, elderly Mr. Burke arrived, so that they had to be introduced. Though she must have made some adequate explanation, since Mrs. Downey's last words were, in the presence of Mr. Burke, "It's always so hard, I think, to lose one's really _old_ friends." Mr. Burke came in. He was very correct, very kind. He begged Mrs. Lonsdale to believe that it was with the greatest regret that he called upon so sad an errand; that he came only because it was necessary and she was the only person to whom they could turn. He added that he had known her husband, Major Lonsdale, in his lifetime, and hoped that she would consider him, therefore, not so entirely a stranger to her.