‘To console you for the loss of your husband’

Agnes opened the enclosure next.

It was a Bank of England note for a thousand pounds.

CHAPTER VI

The next day, the friend and legal adviser of Agnes Lockwood,
Mr. Troy, called on her by appointment in the evening.

Mrs. Ferrari—­still persisting in the conviction of her husband’s death—­ had sufficiently recovered to be present at the consultation.  Assisted by Agnes, she told the lawyer the little that was known relating to Ferrari’s disappearance, and then produced the correspondence connected with that event.  Mr. Troy read (first) the three letters addressed by Ferrari to his wife; (secondly) the letter written by Ferrari’s courier-friend, describing his visit to the palace and his interview with Lady Montbarry; and (thirdly) the one line of anonymous writing which had accompanied the extraordinary gift of a thousand pounds to Ferrari’s wife.

Well known, at a later period, as the lawyer who acted for Lady Lydiard, in the case of theft, generally described as the case of ‘My Lady’s Money,’ Mr. Troy was not only a man of learning and experience in his profession—­ he was also a man who had seen something of society at home and abroad.  He possessed a keen eye for character, a quaint humour, and a kindly nature which had not been deteriorated even by a lawyer’s professional experience of mankind.  With all these personal advantages, it is a question, nevertheless, whether he was the fittest adviser whom Agnes could have chosen under the circumstances.  Little Mrs. Ferrari, with many domestic merits, was an essentially commonplace woman.  Mr. Troy was the last person living who was likely to attract her sympathies—­he was the exact opposite of a commonplace man.

‘She looks very ill, poor thing!’ In these words the lawyer opened the business of the evening, referring to Mrs. Ferrari as unceremoniously as if she had been out of the room.

‘She has suffered a terrible shock,’ Agnes answered.

Mr. Troy turned to Mrs. Ferrari, and looked at her again, with the interest due to the victim of a shock.  He drummed absently with his fingers on the table.  At last he spoke to her.

‘My good lady, you don’t really believe that your husband is dead?’

Mrs. Ferrari put her handkerchief to her eyes.  The word ‘dead’ was ineffectual to express her feelings.  ‘Murdered!’ she said sternly, behind her handkerchief.

‘Why?  And by whom?’ Mr. Troy asked.

Mrs. Ferrari seemed to have some difficulty in answering.  ‘You have read my husband’s letters, sir,’ she began.  ’I believe he discovered—­’ She got as far as that, and there she stopped.

‘What did he discover?’

There are limits to human patience—­even the patience of a bereaved wife.  This cool question irritated Mrs. Ferrari into expressing herself plainly at last.