“How was she affected?” I asked. “Has she been sick for any time? Or did life go out suddenly?”
“It went out suddenly,” replied the lady—“as suddenly as a lamp in the wind.”
“Was she excited from any cause?”
“She has been in an excited state ever since our arrival, although every thing that lay in our power has been done to quiet her mind and give it confidence and repose.”
She spoke calmly, as one, who held a controlling position there, and of right. I looked into her serene face, almost classic in its outlines, with an expression of blended inquiry and surprise, that it was evident did not escape her observation, although she offered no explanation in regard to herself.
I turned again to the corpse, and examined it with some care. There was nothing in its appearance that gave me any clue to the cause which had produced this sudden extinguishment of life.
“In what way was she excited?” I asked, looking at the stranger as I stepped back from the couch on which the dead body was lying.
She returned my steady gaze, without answering, for some moments. Either my tone or manner affected her unpleasantly, for I saw her brows contract slightly, her full lips close upon themselves, and her eyes acquire an intenser look.
“You have been her physician, I believe?” There was no sign of feeling in the steady voice which made the inquiry.
“Yes.”