My pulses beat quicker, man though I was, and my heart beat with them. Was I alone in that large house with the dead? I let him fall again and rang the bell violently. I rushed to the door and shouted over the banisters for Leah; and just as I was leaping down for the policeman I had seen outside, or any other help that might be at hand, I heard a latch-key inserted into the lock, and Lennard came in with Dr. Dickenson. I knew him well, for he had attended Miss Methold in the days gone by. As he hastened to Mr. Brightman, Lennard turned to me, speaking in a whisper: "Mr. Strange, how did it happen? Was he ill?" "I know nothing about it, Lennard. I came in a minute ago, and found him lying here. What do you know? Had you been here before?" "I came, as Mr. Brightman had directed," he replied. "It was a little before eight; and when I got upstairs he was lying there as you see. I tried to rouse him, but could not, and I went off for the doctor." "Did you leave the front door open?" "I believe I did, in my flurry and haste. I thought of it as I ran up the street, but would not lose time in going back to shut it." "He is gone, Mr. Strange," said Dr. Dickenson, advancing towards me, for I and Lennard had stood near the door. "It is a case of sudden death." I sat down, bewildered. I could not believe it. How awfully sudden! "Is it apoplexy?" I asked, lifting my head. "No, I should say not." "Then what is it?" "I cannot tell; it may be the heart." "Are you sure he is dead? Beyond all hope?" "He is indeed." A disagreeable doubt rushed over my mind, and I spoke on the impulse of the moment. "Has he come by his death fairly?" The surgeon paused before he answered. "I see no reason, as yet, to infer otherwise. There are no signs of violence about him." I cannot describe my feelings as we stood looking down at him. Never had I felt so before. What was I to do next?--how act? A hazy idea was making itself heard that some weighty responsibility lay upon me. Just then a cab dashed up to the door; we heard it all too plainly in the hushed silence; and someone knocked and rang. Lennard went down to open it, and I told him to send in the policeman and fetch another doctor. Looking over the banisters I saw George Coney come in. "Such a downfall to my plans, Mr. Strange," he began, seeing me as he ascended the stairs. "I went round to my inn to brush myself up before going to the play, and there I found a letter from my father, which they had forgotten to give me this morning. Our bailiff's been taken ill, cannot leave his bed, and father writes that I had better let the horse and the thirty pounds go for a bad job, and come home, for he can't have me away longer. So my spree's done for, this time, and I am on my way to the station, to catch the nine o'clock train." "Don't go in until you have heard what is there," I whispered, as he was entering the room. "Mr. Brightman, whom you left well, is lying on the floor, and----"