"Only some restorative drops. Dr. Whittaker gave them to her himself several times, and when he left I gave them to her."
"Did she ever take this medicine of her own accord? Was she strong enough in the interval of improvement to take medicine, or to move without assistance?"
Again Henrietta looked at him for a little while before she replied:
"If you are afraid, Dr. Wilmot, that any mistake was made about the medicine, dismiss such a fear. There was no other medicine in the room but the bottle containing the drops; and now your strange question reminds me that she did take them once unassisted."
Wilmot rose and came towards her. "How? when?" he said eagerly. "How could she do so in her weak state?"
"The bottle was on the table, close by her bed. Only one dose was left. She had asked me to raise the window-blind; and I was doing so, when she stretched out her arm and took the bottle off the table. When I turned round she was drinking the last drops, and the next moment she dropped the bottle on the floor, and it was broken."
"Was she fainting, then?"
"O no," said Henrietta, "she was quite sensible, until the pain came on. Indeed I remember that she told me to keep away from the bed until the broken glass had been swept up."
"Was that done?"
"Yes, I did it myself at once."