And he attributed the present misfortune to Monsignor, who had destroyed Evelyn's mind with ceremonies and sacraments.
"Good God! these people should be prosecuted." And he railed against the prelate and against religion, stopping only now and again when Mérat went to her mistress's door, thinking she heard her call. "You say it was between eleven and twelve she came back?"
"It was after twelve, Sir Owen."
"Now where could she have been all that time, and in the rain, thinking how she might kill herself?"
"It couldn't have been anything else, Sir Owen. Her boots were soaked through as if she had been in the water, not caring where she went."
Owen wondered if it were possible she had ventured into the
Serpentine.
"The park closes at nine, doesn't it, Sir Owen?" They talked of the possibility of hiding in the park and the keepers not discovering Evelyn in their rounds; it was quite possible for her to have escaped their notice if she hid in the bushes about the Long Water.
"You think, Sir Owen, that she intended to drown herself?"
"I don't know. You say her boots were wet through. Perhaps she went out to buy the chloral—perhaps she hadn't enough."
"Well, Sir Owen, she must have been doubtful if she had enough chloral to kill herself, for this is what I found." And the maid took out of her pocket several pairs of garters tied together.