of them for a time -- and I 'ad just about forgotten all about them, so I had, when I 'ears them move off."

"And they did not pass your cottage?""No, sir, I'm sure of that."
"Did you hear anything else?"
"Well, sir"--the woman fidgeted uneasily, "I thought--but I shouldn't like to swear to it--not on the Bible--but I fancied I 'eard a cry."
"What sort of a cry? Was it a man or a woman's?"
"I really couldn't say--and perhaps what I 'eard was not a cry at all----"
"Well, well--this is most important. A motor-car that is driven at half-past eleven at night to the foot of a lane which leads nowhere but to the castle grounds, and then returns in the direction it came from--very extraordinary--very. We must look into this," exclaimed the coroner.

And with this the inquest was adjourned.

CHAPTER VIIILADY UPTON

Dr. Stuart-Smith to Mr. Peter Thompkins, Geralton Castle, Newhaven. 

"DEAR LORD WILMERSLEY: 

"Lady Wilmersley showed signs of returning consciousness at half-past five yesterday afternoon. I was at once sent for, but when I arrived she had fallen asleep. She woke again at nine o'clock and this time asked where she was. She spoke indistinctly and did not seem to comprehend what the nurse said to her. When I reached the patient, I found her sitting up in bed. Her pulse was irregular; her temperature, subnormal. I am glad to be able to assure you that Lady Wilmersley is at present perfectly rational. She is, however, suffering from hysterical amnesia complicated by aphasia, but I trust this is only a temporary affection. At first she hesitated over the simplest words, but before I left she could talk with tolerable fluency. 

"I asked Lady Wilmersley whether she wished to see you. She has not only forgotten that she has a husband but has no very clear idea as to what a husband is. In fact, she appears to have preserved no precise impression of anything. She did not even remember her own name. When I told it to her, she said it sounded familiar, only that she did not associate it with herself. Of you personally she has no recollection, although I described you as accurately as I could. However, as your name is the only thing she even dimly recalls, I hope that when you see her, you will be able to help her bridge the gulf which 

 Prev. P 47/173 next