“Not now. It is cruel, I know; but one word more. That letter mentioned another person, Catharine Lacy—did you know anything of her?”
“Catharine Lacy, who should know anything of her? Is she not dead?”
“Yes, I know there is a record of her death at the hospital; but I should be so grateful for some further knowledge of her. You will not wonder at this when I tell you that she was my own cousin.”
“Your cousin, lady; and yet permitted to die there?”
“It was not my fault, oh! believe it. I never even heard of her destitution.”
“But your mother?”
“Hush! It is not for me to arraign my mother!”
“True, true.”
“Tell me, I beseech you, something about this poor girl. It was another mournful death for which that man must one day answer.”
“I can tell you nothing of Catharine Lacy. Her history is written out, they tell me, in the hospital books.”