'Send for a doctor at once,' cried Madame, letting go the bell-rope
and crossing to the window; 'Selina has had a fit of some sort.'
Startled servant goes out to stables and wakes up the grooms, one of
whom is soon on horseback riding for dear life to Dr Chinston.
Clatter--clatter along in the keen morning air; a few workmen on
their way to work gaze in surprise at this furious rider. Luckily,
the doctor lives in St Kilda, and being awoke out of his sleep,
dresses himself quickly, and taking the groom's horse, rides back to
Mrs Villiers' house. He dismounts, enters the house, then the
bedroom. Kitty, pale and wan, is seated in the chair; the window
curtains are drawn, and the cold light of day pours into the room,
while Madame Midas is kneeling beside the corpse, with all the
servants around her. Dr Chinston lifts the arm; it falls limply
down. The face is ghastly white, the eyes staring; there is a streak
of foam on the tightly clenched mouth. The doctor puts his hand on
the heart--not a throb; he closes the staring eyes reverently, and
turns to the kneeling woman and the frightened servants.
'She is dead,' he says, briefly, and orders them to leave the room.
'When did this occur, Mrs Villiers?' he asked, when the room had
been cleared and only himself, Madame, and Kitty remained.
'I can't tell you,' replied Madame, weeping; 'she was all right last
night when we went to bed, and she stayed all night with me because
I was nervous.
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