Page:The Mystery of Madeline Le Blanc (1900).djvu/57

Rh mother, sustained by the father, stood near.the grave; behind them a few relatives; and all around a circle of solemn faces, as the aged priest offered the last prayer, and Madeline was lowered into the earth.

The sun stood low in the western horizon, the verdure of the valley was tinged with the gloaming of eventide, and the flocks and herds wandered homeward, as one by one the shovelfuls of earth enclosed again in their thraldom a cold and silent form of clay. Homeward moved the mourners, and before long the earth was shrouded in the mystery of night. Madeline Le Blanc was no more.

On a table in the cottage beside the garden lay this note, awaiting the mother and father's return:—

"Dear Monsieur and Madame, I have gone to Paris.