Nor
am I puzzled by your malady increasing if, as I suppose, you are living
idly."
"I am. I have no courage to do anything or see anybody."
"Exactly. You live in a sort of hiding."
"Why--yes. You see, once I was well known to a good many people. My
troubles became known to them too. I could not get rid of that burden I
told you of except by blazoning them abroad. I shrink from meeting any
people now. Therefore I live very quietly. I--"
Suddenly she seemed to grow tired of the half measures in frankness that
had so far governed her communications. She spread forth her hands with
a very characteristic, ample gesture of sudden confidence.
"I think I'll tell you exactly what it was," she said. "You may have
read of me. Long ago, some years at least, I was obliged to take action
against my husband, a Mr. Wilson, who afterwards assumed the name of
Marr. I charged him with cruelty, won my case, and obtained a judicial
separation."
Then Dr. Levillier knew that he looked on the former wife of the strange,
cruel, dead man, whose influence had entered into the lives of his two
friends.
"You may have heard of my case?" Mrs. Wilson said.
"Certainly I have."
"It was bad, even from a newspaper point of view, I believe.
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