ing apparatus with him on the run, in the snake season; upon this occasion he had forgotten it. But in the face of that murderous hlunt-headed reptile they all knew that neither brandy nor ammonia could be of any avail.
Lord Horace's face had become waxen in hue, and already he had the dull, dazed look of a drunken man. It was only his healthy vitality which had kept the poison from working more speedily. He staggered as they walked him to and fro, and before many minutes the collapse came. Frank and Lady Waveryng did all they could to rouse him, and with an effort he collected his dying faculties.
The others had drawn aside. Only Mrs. Allanby clung to him, and Lady Waveryng, stern and stately, and yet pitiful, stood shielding them both.
"Horace," she said, "is there anything you would like me to tell Ina?"
Lord Horace's glazed eyes fastened themselves on his sister beseechingly, and wandered from her to Mrs. Allanby. "Don't let Ina know," he said, "and take care of her. I wasn't good enough for Ina."
And those were the last words he spoke.
As if obeying his last behest, Lady Waveryng, when all was over, took Mrs. Allanby very gently by the hand and placed her on a ledge, in an angle of the rocks, where the poor woman sank moaning hysterically.
"It is my punishment," she cried. "God has sent His vengeance upon me. Do you know what he was doing when that thing fastened on him? He had his arm round me; he kissed me, he had put his hand down on the rock. His kiss—oh! my God! his last kiss!"
"Hush," said Lady Waveryng, shuddering. "He is dead. Think of his wife."
"She never loved him," Mrs. Allanby broke out. "She loved Frank Hallett, who is going to marry her sister. She married him so that she might not be in her sister's way. I know it. No one told me. It came to me. I saw it in her look. It was in her voice when she spoke to Frank. I told him. She is very good, too good for him, I sup-
