even from my wife; and this, too, I resolved to state in my letter. I

had no apprehension whatever of my real danger; but I was

conscious that there might be danger for others, if others were

compromised by possessing the knowledge that I possessed.

“I was much engaged that day, and could not complete my

letter that night. I rose long before my usual time next morning to

finish it. It was the last day of the year. The letter was lying before

me just completed, when I was told that a lady waited, who wished

to see me.

“I am growing more and more unequal to the task I have set

myself. It is so cold, so dark, my senses are so benumbed, and the

gloom upon me is so dreadful.

“The lady was young, engaging, and handsome, but not marked

for long life. She was in great agitation. She presented herself to

me as the wife of the Marquis St. Evremonde. I connected the title

by which the boy had addressed the elder brother, with the initial

letter embroidered on the scarf, and had no difficulty in arriving at

the conclusion that I had seen that nobleman very lately.

“My memory is still accurate, but I cannot write the words of

our conversation. I suspect that I am watched more closely than I

was, and I know not at what times I may be watched. She had in

part suspected, and in part discovered, the main facts of the cruel

story, of her husband’s share in it, and my being resorted to. She

Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics

did not know that the girl was dead. Her hope had been, she said

in great distress, to show her, in secret, a woman’s sympathy. Her

hope had been to avert the wrath of Heaven from a House that had

long been hateful to the suffering many.

“She had reasons for believing that there was a young sister

living, and her greatest desire was, to help that sister. I could tell

her nothing but that there was such a sister; beyond that, I knew

nothing. Her inducement to come to me, relying on my confidence,

had been the hope that I could tell her the name and place of

abode. Whereas, to this wretched hour I am ignorant of both.

“These scraps of paper fail me. One was taken from me, with a

warning yesterday. I must finish my record today.

“She was a good, compassionate lady, and not happy in her

marriage. How could she be! The brother distrusted and disliked

her, and his influence was all opposed to her; she stood in dread of

him, and in dread of her husband too. When I handed her down to

the door, there was a child, a pretty boy from two to three years

old, in her carriage.

“‘For his sake, Doctor,’ she said, pointing to him in tears. ‘I

would do all I can to make what poor amends I can. He will never

prosper in his inheritance otherwise. I have a presentiment that if

no other innocent atonement is made for this, it will one day be

required of him. What I have left to call my ownit is little beyond

the worth of a few jewelsI will make it the first charge of his life

to bestow, with the compassion and lamenting of his dead mother,

on this injured family, if the sister can be discovered.’ “She kissed