broken down altogether and was sobbing distractedly. Lucy was very white, but otherwise quite composed. She shook hands with Dick and Mrs. Crowley.
'It was kind of you to come,' she said.
'Oh, my poor Lucy,' said Mrs. Crowley, with a sob in her voice.
Lucy smiled bravely.
'It's all over now.'
Alec came in, and she walked eagerly towards him.
'Well? I was hoping you'd bring father with you. When is he coming?'
She stopped. She gave a gasp as she saw Alec's face. Though her cheeks were pale before, now their pallor was deathly.
'What is the matter?'
'Isn't it all right?' cried George.
Lucy put her hand on his arm to quieten him. It seemed that Alec could not find words. There was a horrible silence, but they all knew what he had to tell them.
'I'm afraid you must prepare yourself for a great unhappiness,' he said.
'Where's father?' cried Lucy. 'Where's father? Why didn't you bring him with you?'
With the horrible truth dawning upon her, she was losing her self-control. She made an effort. Alec would not speak, and she was obliged to question him. When the words came, her voice was hoarse and low.
'You've not told us what the verdict was.'
'Guilty,' he answered.
Then the colour flew back to her cheeks, and her eyes flashed with anger.
'But it's impossible. He was innocent. He swore that he hadn't done it. There must be some horrible mistake.'
'I wish to God there were,' said Alec.
'You don't think he's guilty?' she cried.
He did not answer, and for a moment they looked at one another steadily.
'What was the sentence?' she asked.
'The judge was dead against him. He made some very violent remarks as he passed it.'
'Tell me what he said.'
'Why should you wish to torture yourself?'
'I want to know.'
'He seemed to think the fact that your father was a gentleman made the crime more odious, and the way in which he had induced that woman to part with her money made no punishment too severe. He sentenced him to seven years penal servitude.'
George gave a cry and sinking into a chair, burst into tears. Lucy put her hand on his shoulder.
'Don't, George,' she said. 'You must bear up. Now we want all our courage, now more than ever.'
'Oh, I can't bear it,' he moaned.
She bent down and kissed him tenderly.
'Be brave, my dearest, be brave for my sake.'
But he sobbed uncontrollably. It was a horribly painful sight. Dick took him by the arm and led him away. Lucy turned to Alec, who was standing where first he had stopped.
'I want to ask you a question. Will you answer me quite truthfully, whatever the pain you think it will cause me?'
'I will.'
'You followed the trial from the beginning, you know all the details of it. Do
'What can it matter what I think?'
'I beg you to tell me.'
Alec hesitated for a moment. His voice was very low.
'If I had been on the jury I'm afraid I should have had no alternative but to decide as they did.'
Lucy bent her head, and heavy tears rolled down her cheeks.
VII
Next morning Lucy received a note from Alec MacKenzie, asking if he might see her that day; he suggested calling upon her early in the afternoon and expressed the hope that he might find her alone. She sat in the library at Lady Kelsey's and waited for him. She held a book in her hands, but she could not read. And presently she began to weep. Ever since the dreadful news had reached her, Lucy had done her utmost to preserve her self-control, and all night she had lain with clenched hands to prevent herself from giving way. For George's sake and for her father's, she felt that she must keep her strength. But now the strain was too great for her; she was alone; the tears began to flow helplessly, and she made no effort to restrain them.
