“Mr. Constant died very suddenly. The doctors called it apoplexy. He was in good health and was stricken down without warning.
“It is too late now to determine it, but I cannot rid myself of the idea that foul play was at the bottom of his death.”
“When did he die?” asked Nick.
“Nearly two years ago.”
“At his home?”
“He was brought home, but was taken ill at his club. I had gone over to Philadelphia early in the morning, not to return until the next day, so he dined at his club. The doctors insisted that he had been imprudent at the table, eating and drinking too much.
“Mr. Constant was a free liver, and that gave a basis for their decision. But if I tell you that Mr. Constant was a wine-drinker, do not believe that he used it in excess. He did not.
“Now I come to that which is unpleasant. His marriage to me was not agreeable to his family. They opposed it bitterly.
“I did not know that until after marriage. Whether it would have changed my course if I had, I don’t know. His family is very aristocratic, and I was a poor girl, of humble origin, working for wages on the stage.
“We were happy in our life together, but our marriage separated him from his family. He was independent in having a small competence, and a share in the income of a large estate, held in trust, his for life and to be his children’s after him, if he had them, which, by the way, he had not.