Other witnesses there were, such as the soldier servant at the door, who made a lame excuse for leaving his post for a few minutes while the Egyptian was in the General’s office, and the sentry at the gate of the Citadel, who said no one had come in after Colonel Macdonald and the cavalry had passed out. Then, some question of calling Helena herself was promptly quashed by the Consul-General, and the inquiry closed. Hardly had the black boy delivered the last of his messages when there was a timid knock at Helena’s door, and the Army Surgeon came into the room. He was a small man with an uneasy manner: married, and with a family of grown-up girls who were understood to be a cause of anxiety to him. "I regret—I deeply regret to tell you, Miss Graves, that your father’s death has been due to heart-failure, the result of undue excitement. You will do me the justice—I’m sure you will do me the justice to remember that I repeatedly warned the General of the dangers of over-exciting himself, but unfortunately his temperament was such——" The Consul-General’s deep voice in the adjoining room seemed to interrupt the Surgeon, and making a visible call on his resolution he came closer to Helena and said— "I have not mentioned my previous knowledge of organic trouble. Lord Nuneham asked some searching questions, but the promise I made to your father——" Again the Consul General’s voice interrupted him, and with a flicker of fear on his face, he said— "Now that things have turned out so unhappily it might perhaps be awkward for me if ... In short, my dear Miss Graves, I think I may rely on you not to ... Oh, thank you, thank you!" he said, as Helena, understanding his anxiety, bowed her head. "I thought it would relieve you to receive my assurance that death was due to natural causes only—purely natural. It’s true I thought for a moment that perhaps there had also been violence——" "Violence?" said Helena. "Don’t let me alarm you. It was only a passing impression, and I should be sorry, very sorry——" But just at that moment, when a new thought was passing through the stormy night of Helena’s mind like a shaft of deadly lightning, the Chaplain of the Forces came into the room, and the Surgeon left it. The Chaplain was a well-nurtured person, who talked comfort out of a full stomach with the expansiveness which sometimes comes to clergy who live long amongst soldiers. "I have come to say, my dear young lady, that I place myself entirely at your service. With your permission I will charge myself with all the sad and necessary duties. So sudden! So unexpected! How true that in the midst of life we are in death!" There was more coin from the same mint, and then, the shaft of deadly lightning as before.