he letter itself ran thus:

"Distressing circumstances oblige me to leave you, sir, and do not
permit me to enter into particulars. In asking your pardon, I offer
my sincere thanks for your kindness, and my fervent prayers for your
welfare."

That was all. The date had a special interest for me. Mrs. Mozeen had
written on the day when she must have received my letter--the letter
which has already appeared in these pages.

"Is there really nothing known of the poor woman's motives?" I asked.

"There are two explanations suggested," the doctor informed me. "One of
them, which is offered by your female servants, seems to me absurd. They
declare that Mrs. Mozeen, at her mature age, was in love with the young
man who is your footman! It is even asserted that she tried to recommend
herself to him, by speaking of the money which she expected to bring to
the man who would make her his wife. The footman's reply, informing her
that he was already engaged to be married, is alleged to be the cause
which has driven her from your house."

I begged that the doctor would not trouble himself to repeat more of
what my women servants had said.

"If the other explanation," I added, "is equally unworthy of notice--"

"The other explanation," the doctor interposed, "comes from Mr. Rothsay,
and is of a very serious kind."

Rothsay's opinion demanded my respect.

"What view does he take?" I inquired.

"A view that startles me," the doctor said. "You remember my telling
you of the interest he took in your symptoms, and in the remedies I had
employed? Well! Mr. Rothsay accounts for the incomprehensible recovery
of your health by asserting that poison--probably administered in small
quantities, and intermitted at intervals in fear of discovery--has been
mixed with your medicine; and he asserts that the guilty person is Mrs.
Mozeen."

It was impossible that I could openly express the indignation that I
felt on hearing this. My position toward Rothsay forced me to restrain
myself.

"May I ask," the doctor continued, "if Mrs. Mozeen was aware that she
had a legacy to expect at your death?"

"Certainly."

"Has she a brother who is one of the dispensers employed by your
chemists?"

"Yes."

"Did she know that I doubted if my prescriptions had been properly
prepared, and that I intended to make inquiries?"

"I wrote to her myself on the subject."

"Do you think her brother told her that I was referred to _him_, when I
went t