It was a curious fact, but a fact nevertheless, that during the last two or three minutes Mr. Toogood had completely forgotten Jean Bower’s connection with the man now talking to him. His mind had been full of her—but entirely in connection with Harry Garlett. It was as Garlett’s secretary, not as Dr. Maclean’s niece, that he had considered the girl’s unhappy situation.
He told himself that he must go warily, the more so that two or three of the men who had spoken to him of the case that morning had seemed to think it possible that Jean Bower might find herself in the dock with Harry Garlett. He now remembered, with a touch of acute dismay, that a fellow lawyer had actually observed: “I’m told they found no arsenic at the Thatched House—but that young woman, Garlett’s lady love, being a doctor’s niece, must have access to all kinds of poisons, eh?”
So, setting a guard on his tongue, Mr. Toogood came back to the matter in hand.
“You’ll be the most important witness, both before the magistrates and at the trial, Maclean. I suppose you knew Mrs. Garlett very well indeed—not only as her medical man, but as a friend?”
“Yes, I think I can say that,” said the doctor cautiously, “although the poor woman never cared for anybody apart from the man she married. As for female friends—well, Miss Prince was her only intimate acquaintance. She was on bad terms with Mrs. Cole-Wright, and she never cared to see my wife.” The doctor smiled a rueful smile—“Though she was prim and old-fashioned, Emily Garlett liked men very much, more than she did women. The day before she died she had two gentlemen callers—the rector for one, I know.”
“You saw her pretty often, I suppose?”
“Yes, she often sent for me, though there was little I could do for her.”
“You attributed her death to violent indigestion, acting on the heart?” queried the lawyer, glancing down at a paper lying on the table before him.
Dr. Maclean hesitated; this was touching on what had already become a very sore subject with him.
“I made a bad break there, Toogood,” he admitted painfully.