"Leaving me a hundred," I said musingly.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Nothing: a bad habit I have of talking to myself. Will you pardon a question of some abruptness? You are acquainted, no doubt, with the present Mrs. James Carthew?"
"Slightly." He looked at me in some puzzlement. "She was Mr. James's housekeeper."
"So I have heard. Is she a woman of strong mind? with an influence upon her husband?"
Mr. Retallack positively smiled.
"You may be sure he would never have married her without it. Oh, there's no doubt about the strength of her mind!"
"Middle-aged, I believe? With one child, and not likely to have another?"
"It astonished us all when this one was born. Indeed, people do say—but I mustn't repeat tattle."
"No, indeed. But a man like James Carthew, with a large entail at stake, might be forgiven——" I did not finish my sentence, but stepped to the bell and rang it.