“With her child?”
“She took no child with her, he said, but sat in that one spot till night. From that time I have lost all trace of her.”
“Have you ever questioned Mrs. Judson?”
“I did; telling her all the facts, and claiming my wife at her hands.”
“Well?”
“At first, she refused to answer me; but when I told her of our marriage, she admitted everything, but persisted in stating that Louisa died in the hospital and was buried from her house, the servants believing that she had been brought home from a Catholic school. She was very anxious that I should keep my marriage and the manner of my wife’s death a secret; and up to this time I have done so.”
“May not this possibly be true?” inquired George De Marke, with sudden animation.
“No; I have searched the wards and traced all the facts. It is useless to guess what Mrs. Judson’s motives for concealment are; but it was Catharine Lacy who was taken from the hospital after her death, by an undertaker, and carried in the night to Mrs. Judson’s house, from which there was a pompous funeral the next day. The undertaker showed me his certificate for burial, but said that he had never seen the lady, as all the bills were paid by one of the nurses at the hospital.”
“Did you find this nurse?”
“No; she left the hospital about that time, and I could get no intelligence regarding her.”