'My James was well upon the Sunday; you say he died upon the Monday. I don't believe he did die; but if he did die, he was killed.'
'But this is monstrous. If what Mr. FitzHoward says about the condition of your husband's health when you last saw him is correct----'
'It is correct.'
'Then in that case there is something somewhere which I own that I don't understand; but to suggest that it is anything which will not bear the light of day, or which a few words will not make clear--that is absurd. But come with me, and you shall have all the explanation which you can possibly require, probably inside half-an-hour.'
'From Mr. Howarth?'
It was Mr. FitzHoward who asked.
'If Mr. Howarth has anything to explain, I am quite sure he will explain it--to the proper person.'
'With your permission, Marchioness'--the man would keep talking to me in that silly way; I wished he wouldn't!--'we'll have this matter settled, once for all, in a proper business manner. His lordship keeps snubbing me, thinking, I suppose, that I'm the sort of person who oughtn't to have anything to do with his aristocratic family; but as I also happen to have had some interest in his brother, the nature of which I'll explain to him a little later on, he won't find that I'm easily snubbed. This is an affair which is not likely to be pleasant to any of us; therefore I say that the sooner we get at the bottom of it, so that we can be quit of it for good and all, the better. So as I say, Marchioness, with your permission I'll go and get those certificates of which I spoke, and I'll hunt up at least one of the gentlemen who signed them, and with him I'll follow you to Mr. Howarth's.'
'We're not going to Mr. Howarth's, but to my--or rather--well, to what is at present my house in St. James's Square.'
'Very good; I'll be there nearly as soon as you are. And if you'll allow me to suggest, my lord, you'll have one of the gentlemen who signed that certificate to meet my doctor when he comes.'