— 26 —Mrs. Sacret did what had to be done for the sick man while Dr. Virtue waited downstairs for Dr. Lemoine. She carried out his directions scrupulously. The room was clean, perfumed, the linen fresh, the fomentations constantly renewed, the maids dutifully at the orders of one so capable. But uneasy reflections were spinning in Mrs. Sacret’s mind as she went about her duties. She had been extremely startled when the physician had spoken so immediately and so confidently of poison. She had expected this illness to pass as the others had passed—as a nervous seizure. The medical opinion altered her plans considerably. There was much she could not dwell on—there was much she must carefully resolve. It was still dark when Dr. Lemoine arrived. Mrs. Sacret heard his carriage wheels and, going
