And none in Hamley said nay, not one."
The Duchess murmured to herself. Eglington was dead--Eglington was
dead--Eglington was dead! And David Claridge was coming out of the
desert, was coming to-day-now!
"How did it happen?" she asked, faintly, at last.
"Things went wrong wi' him--bad wrong in Parliament and everywhere, and
he didn't take it well. He stood the world off like-ay, he had no temper
for black days. He shut himself up at Hamley in his chemical place, like
his father, like his father before him. When the week-end came, there he
was all day and night among his bottles and jars and wires. He was after
summat big in experiment for explosives, so the papers said, and so he
said himself before he died, to Miss Claridge--ay, 'twas her he deceived
and treated cruel, that come to him when he was shattered by his
experimenting. No patience, he had at last--and reckless in his chemical
place, and didn't realise what his hands was doing. 'Twas so he told her,
that forgave him all his deceit, and held him in her arms when he died.
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