The change
in him was painfully evident--memory failing, energy gone. He came to
his mistress's room every morning, received her orders, answered her
questions; but Lady Maulevrier felt that he went through the old duties
in a mechanical way, and that his dull brain but half understood their
importance.
One evening at dusk, just as Hartfield and Mary were leaving Lady
Maulevrier's room, after dinner, an appalling shriek ran through the
house--a cry almost as terrible as that which Lord Hartfield heard in
the summer midnight just a year ago. But this time the sound came from
the old part of the house.
'Something has happened,' exclaimed Hartfield, rushing to the door of
communication.
It was bolted inside. He knocked vehemently; but there was no answer. He
ran downstairs, followed by Mary, breathless, in an agony of fear. Just
as they approached the lower door, leading to the old house, it was
flung open, and Steadman's wife stood before them pale with terror.
'The doctor,' she cried; 'send for Mr. Horton, somebody, for God's sake.
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