"My dear lady!" he murmured. "My dear lady! This is a terrible time for you."
She started. She feared that something had come out.
"In the moment of bereavement, too, to think of business."
"I have brought you," she replied curtly, "my husband's—my late husband's—will."
"Thank you. With your permission—though it may detain your ladyship—I will read it. Humph! it is short and to the point. This will certainly give us little trouble. I fear, however, that, besides the insurances, your ladyship will not receive much."
"Nothing. My husband was always a poor man, as you know. At the time of his death he left a small sum of money only. I am, as a matter of fact, greatly inconvenienced."
"Your ladyship shall be inconvenienced no longer. You must draw upon us. As regards Lord Harry's death, we are informed by Dr. Vimpany, who seems to have been his friend as well as his medical adviser—"
"Dr. Vimpany had been living with him for some time."
—"that he had a somewhat protracted illness?"
"I was away from my husband. I was staying here in London—on business—for some time before his death. I was not even aware that he was in any danger. When I hurried back to Passy I was too late. My husband was—was already buried."