The Volume Of The Sacred Law.

each dead and gone individual with more or less detail . Here was a soldier who had battled nobly for his King , and there a sailor captain who had gone down with his ship rather than surrender it in the face of fri ghtful odds . So on , through the Culverhouse race , did its present representative take his listening friends . Never one breath of dishonor could be tell of ; and , when

he had finished , and some of tlie guests themselves had borne witness to the worthiness of the late Earl Culverhouse , who had erected Crowdley Church on the site of the old monastic building that previously stood there , and had set aside a vast sum of money for the improvement of the houses on his estate , the company went back to the hall to the repast that had been prepared for them .

All was over , and the last guest had departed with the frozen early morning , when Francis , the butler , who had been born in the house nigh upon seventy years before , again reminded his master of the lady who was waiting to see him , but who had refused to give her name or to disturb the Earl until his guests had gone . The excitement of the night had left a flush upon bis cheek , which even

weariness could not hide , and he stepped across to the library , into which the visitor had been shown , and the door closed silently behind him . It was , perhaps , half an hour before he came out , and then only to tell Francis not to wait up , and to bid his daughters retire

also . It must have been some hours after this when he next left the library with the lady , closely veiled . They passed down the corridor leading to his private room , and presently he returned to the hall alone , and stood for some moments staring into the dying embers in the grate . Once more he went back to the library , to fetch a lamp

and a bundle of papers that he took from a drawer in his desk . Then he crossed into the gallery , the doors of which he softly closed . When the bells of Crowdley Church had joyfully pealed the advent of another Christmas Morn , and the children of the Culverhouse schools had sung their carols on the terrace of the Court , and

the inmates , having awakened from their slumbers , were preparing to offer up their praises to the Giver of all good things , and ask His benediction on the year to come , the Earl of Culverhouse was found lying upon the floor of the gallery stone dead .

CHAPTER III . For blood has left upon their race Its everlasting stain . ONE of the under-housemaids was the first to make the

discovery . She had gone into the gallery by the servants' entrance in the long corridor , to draw back the curtains previous to the inspection by the housekeeper , when she saw her master lying upon his face on the floor close to a table upon which the lighted lamp was standing . She spoke to him , and getting no answer knelt

down and raised his hand , when the truth suddenly flashed upon her that he was dead . She rushed screaming from the room , which roused the servants only just preparing for their day ' s occupation . Going back they lifted the body on to a seat in one of the oriel windows , and someone immediately hastened upstairs to acquaint

Lord Crowdley with the terrible news . He ordered every servant to her place to proceed with her work without allowing the tidings to reach his sisters' rooms , and sent a couple of stablemen to gallop as hard as horse could take them for the doctors . They could not reach the Court , he knew , for at least an hour , so he mechanically

locked the door by which the servant girl had entered and went up to his room stunned by the terrible shock that had fallen upon him . He dressed himself and came down again just as he saw three horsemen spurring their animals towards the house . Doctor Fossett was on the point of attending early morning service when the

messenger arrived summoning him at once to Culverhouse . The doctor , still carrying his church books which in his hurry he had forgotten to leave behind , jumped into the saddle of the animal which stood panting before him , and , on his way to the Court ,

met the other groom with Dr . Gould . Lord Crowdley admitted them himself and took them at once to the library . The Earl had been dead some hours , they told him , and death was caused by an overdose of laudanum . " Great God , Gould ! " exclaimed his lordship , in tones that expressed the sudden awakening to the position in which he stood . "You don ' t tell me , man , that my father has commited suicide . You must me mad ! "

" It is true , my lord , that the Earl's death has been caused by that drug , but it may be that he took it in mistake . " " How—mistake ? Why—mistake ? Man , tell me ! You have attended him for years , and must have known he was not in the habit of taking drugs of any nature . " " True , sir . I have never known him to do so ; but this is

conclusive evidence that he did last night , " and the doctor produced an empty phial from the dead man ' s waistcoat-pocket . " My God , Could ! There must be some terrible error somewhere . My father had no cause for such an act . It was only last night we held the ancestral feast , and you , Dr . Fossett , were here

yourself . You saw how elated he was ; if this cruel drug has killed him , it must have been taken for some other purpose than to end his life ! " and he sunk down on to a chair and buried his face

in his hands . The whole thing was too terrible for his mind to grasp . Perhaps later he would get time to think , but now was the time to be up and preparing everyone for the evil tidings . How and what could he tell his sisters ? Well , it must be broken to them , so he essayed the task himself . The doctors and he carried the body of the dead Earl to the bed that had not been slept in the

previous night , and having sent a messenger to Durham to summon Mr . Ford , the family solicitor , as soon as possible , lie arranged a meeting with the doctors the same evening at eight o ' clock , and , enjoining secrecy upon them until that time , went to his elder sister ' s room to tell her what had happened .

When he came out his eyes were reddened , for the anguish of his younger sister had made him weep . Tears bring not the solace to a man ' s hea t that they do to a woman ' s , perhaps because men feel such a loss as this less keenly than they . He had made them promise not to leave their rooms during the day ,

or until he had seen Mr . Ford and the doctors again . He did not even question any of the servants or Francis as to what had taken place after he and his sisters had retired to rest the night before , and he did not go again into the gallery where the Earl had been found . It was a merry Chriatmay Day this , waiting for

Mr . Ford , without whose advice he was at a loss what to do ! The household were silentl y discussing the affair downstairs , and were as much puzzled and distressed as Lord Crowdley and his sisters . No dinner was served , the Christmas festivities were blotted out , and the great house was quiet and mournful as the dead .

The hours dragged along as surely hours never did before , and church people down in the village were wondering why the manor pew was unoccupied this morning , of all mornings in the year . It was late in the afternoon when Mr . Ford came . He had

managed to catch a train soon after the message arrived , which brought him to Chilldington Station , where a carriage from the Court had been sent to meet him should he come that way . He was taken at once to Lord Crowdley , who was anxiously waiting for him in the library .

" What has happened , sir ? " was his exclamation , the moment he saw his lordship ' s face . " Nothing to the Earl , I hope ? " " Yes , Ford . He is dead ! " " Dead ?"

" Yes ; he was found this morning by one of the maids lying on the floor of the gallery poisoned—so Gould says—by laudanum , and Dr . Fossett says so , too . Now , Ford , there is a terrible mystery here which I have not dared to think of before I had seen you . I have done nothing—not even asked a question of any of the servants—beyond requesting the doctors to meet you here this