Rainford turned an appealing glance towards Dykes, as much as to say, “You surely will allow me to proceed unwatched and unguarded along with these mourners to the chamber where the corpse lies?” But Dykes, who understood the meaning of that glance, said in a respectful though firm tone, “I dare not trust you out of my sight!” “I will be answerable for him, officer!” cried the Earl of Ellingham. “Do you know me? I----” “I know who you are, my lord,” answered Dykes; “but I cannot oblige you.” “Is not grief such as that which you now contemplate,” said the nobleman, indicating the weeping father and sister of the deceased lady,--“is not such grief as this too solemn for the intrusion of a stranger?” “Since your lordship forces me to speak plain,” returned Dykes, “Mr. Rainford is my prisoner on two charges----” “On two charges!” ejaculated the Earl: then, remembering all that his brother had passed through, he said mournfully, “But, just heavens! _one_ is enough!” “As your lordship observes,” began Dykes, “one is----” At that moment another private carriage rattled up to the door of the house, and a lady, alighting with feverish impatience, was instantaneously admitted into the dwelling. In less than a minute she was ushered by Jacob Smith into the room where the mourning party were assembled. “Lady Hatfield!” cried Tom Rain, the moment she raised her veil: and, as if her presence were another blow on such an occasion, he staggered and would have, fallen had not the Earl of Ellingham caught him in his arms. “Pardon this intrusion,” said Georgiana, advancing into the middle of the apartment; “and believe me when I assure you that nothing save the hope of being in some degree able to lighten the afflictions which pour upon you all--nothing,” she added emphatically, “but such a hope as this would have induced me to break upon your privacy. The dreadful rumours current in the metropolis reached me ere now--and I flew hither, only--alas! to hear them confirmed. But--Mr. Rainford----” She stopped short--trembled--and seemed for an instant overcome by feelings of an unutterable nature. The bitterness--the intensity of grief which oppressed the others, was in some degree absorbed for the moment by the profound interest which the presence of Lady Hatfield excited, her words having given promise of hopes the nature whereof defied all conjecture. But suspense on the part of her listeners was not destined to last long. “Mr. Rainford,” she resumed, exercising a powerful control over her emotions, “you have sustained an affliction so great that it is almost impossible to impart consolation to you. Yet--even in the midst of such woe as this which has overtaken you--it may at least be a satisfaction to learn that the judgment of a criminal tribunal no longer hangs over you--that the past is indeed the past, and cannot be revived----” “Georgiana!” cried the Earl of Ellingham, surveying her in profound astonishment; “what mean you?”