These reflections did not all pass through my mind in the silence which followed the conclusion of Mrs. Fortress's statement. They are the summing-up of my thoughts at that time and during my homeward journey. Meanwhile, Mrs. Fortress was waiting patiently for me to put any questions which might occur to me.
"Beyond yourself, Mrs. Fortress," I said, "and your master and mistress, was there no person cognisant with Mrs. Carew's condition?"
"None, sir, with the exception of the foreign doctor."
"Can you tell me his name?"
"I do not know it, but a doctor of his learning would not have been a young man when Mr. Carew consulted him, and it is hardly likely he would be now living."
"True," I said.
"Besides," she added, "his experience of Mrs. Carew could have been but slight. Almost immediately after he gave Mr. Carew his opinion of my mistress, they left for England, as I have told you."
"Yes," I remarked, "and he may, after all, have been mistaken."
She shrank a little, I fancied, but she said firmly, "He may have been, I was not."
"I am not doubting you, Mrs. Fortress," I said.