an), communicated with
a little study, or book-room, used, as I was told, by Mr. Macallan's
mother when she was staying at Gleninch, but seldom or never entered
by any one else. Mr. Macallan's mother was not at Gleninch while I was
there. The door between the bedroom and this study was locked, and the
key was taken out. I don't know who had the key, or whether there
were more keys than one in existence. The door was never opened to
my knowledge. I only got into the study, to look at it along with the
housekeeper, by entering through a second door that opened on to the
corridor.

"I beg to say that I can speak from my own knowledge positively about
Mrs. Macallan's illness, and about the sudden change which ended in
her death. By the doctor's advice I made notes at the time of dates and
hours, and such like. I looked at my notes before coming here.

"From the 7th of October, when I was first called in to nurse her, to
the 20th of the same month, she slowly but steadily improved in health.
Her knee was still painful, no doubt; but the inflammatory look of it
was disappearing. As to the other symptoms, except weakness from lying
in bed, and irritability of temper, there was really nothing the matter
with her. She slept badly, I ought perhaps to add. But we remedied
this by means of composing draughts prescribed for that purpose by the
doctor.

"On the morning of the 21st, at a few minutes past six, I got my first
alarm that something was going wrong with Mrs. Macallan.

"I was awoke at the time I have mentioned by the ringing of the
hand-bell which she kept on her bed-table. Let me say for myself that
I had only fallen asleep on the sofa in the bedroom at past two in the
morning from sheer fatigue. Mrs. Macallan was then awake. She was in
one of her bad humors with me. I had tried to prevail on her to let me
remove her dressing-case from her bed-table, after she had used it in
making her toilet for the night. It took up a great deal of room; and
she could not possibly want it again before the morning. But no; she
insisted on my letting it be. There was a glass inside the case; and,
plain as she was, she never wearied of looking at herself in that glass.
I saw that she was in a bad state of temper, so I gave her her way, and
let the dressing-case be. Finding that she was too sullen to speak to me
after that, and too obstinate to take her composing draught from me
when I offered it, I laid me down on the sofa at her bed f