Page:A strange, sad comedy (IA strangesadcomedy00seawiala).pdf/236

224 vants of the strange visitor that Madame de Fonblanque had turned up miraculously with Colonel Corbin, and after a short interview with Mr. Romaine had disappeared. They knew all about the old report that Mr. Romaine had been very marked in his attentions at one time to the pretty widow, and Chessingham shrewdly guessed very near the truth concerning her visit, which truth convulsed him with laughter.

"It is the most absurd thing," he said to his wife and Ethel Maywood, in their own sitting room that night. "No doubt the old fellow has some entanglement with her, and finding widows a little more difficult to impose upon than guileless maidens, he 's been trapped in some way."

"And serves him right," said Mrs. Chessingham, with energy. "I know he's kind to us, Reggie—but—was there ever such another man as Mr. Romaine, do you think?"

"The Lord be praised, no," answered Chessingham. "And he is not only mentally and morally different from any man I ever saw, but physically, too. I swear, after having been his doctor for two years, I don't know his constitution yet. He will describe to me the most contradictory symptoms. He will