Third Period Chapter 57 At Louvain

They took their house, and sat down in it. They were very silent. Lord
Harry, his great coup successfully carried so far, sat taciturn and
glum. He stayed indoors all day, only venturing out after dark. For a
man whose whole idea of life was motion, society, and action, this
promised ill.

The monotony was first broken by the arrival of Hugh's letter, which
was sent in with other documents from Passy. Iris read it; she read it
again, trying to understand exactly what it meant. Then she tore it up.
"If he only knew," she said, "he would not have taken the trouble even
to write this letter. There is no answer, Hugh. There can be none--now.
Act by your advice? Henceforth, I must act by order. I am a
conspirator."

Two days afterwards came a letter from the doctor. He did not think it
necessary to say anything about Fanny's appearance or her journey to
Borne. "Everything," he wrote, "has so far gone well. The world knows,
through the papers, that Lord Harry is dead. There will be now only the
business of claiming the money. For this purpose, as his widow is the
sole heiress and executrix, it will be necessary for her to place the
will and the policies of insurance in the hands of her husband's
lawyers, so that the will may be proved and the claims duly made. Forms
will have to be signed. The medical certificate of death and the forms
attesting the burial are already in the lawyers' hands. The sooner the
widow goes to London the better. She should write to announce her
arrival, and she should write from Paris as if she had been staying
there after her husband's death.