He had lighted a cigar and sat smoking in silence—a silence I feared to question. From time to time he looked at me, with pity rather than embarrassment, and at last he spoke.
"Mr. Thorburn, I should be intruding upon your hospitality were I to remain over to-morrow."
"I understand. You have no doubt?"
"No doubt."
I mastered an emotion with a struggle.
"Will you give me your opinion?" I said.
"My opinion is that your wife is insane. It is impossible that I should pronounce upon the degree of her insanity from the short time I have been with her. The conditions with which she is surrounded must necessarily retard the growth of her madness. Her love for you and your presence here exercise a a restraining influence. Yet I am not satisfied that her mind is free from anxiety."
"What makes you think this?"
"I judge more from her aspect than her manners or language. Her physical condition implies the presence of some active mental pain, which is not due to insanity, though it would aggravate it."