That was all. The date had a special interest for me. Mrs. Mozeen had written on the day when she must have received my letter--the letter which has already appeared in these pages. "Is there really nothing known of the poor woman's motives?" I asked. "There are two explanations suggested," the doctor informed me. "One of them, which is offered by your female servants, seems to me absurd. They declare that Mrs. Mozeen, at her mature age, was in love with the young man who is your footman! It is even asserted that she tried to recommend herself to him, by speaking of the money which she expected to bring to the man who would make her his wife. The footman's reply, informing her that he was already engaged to be married, is alleged to be the cause which has driven her from your house." I begged that the doctor would not trouble himself to repeat more of what my women servants had said. "If the other explanation," I added, "is equally unworthy of notice--" "The other explanation," the doctor interposed, "comes from Mr. Rothsay, and is of a very serious kind." Rothsay's opinion demanded my respect. "What view does he take?" I inquired. "A view that startles me," the doctor said. "You remember my telling you of the interest he took in your symptoms, and in the remedies I had employed? Well! Mr. Rothsay accounts for the incomprehensible recovery of your health by asserting that poison--probably administered in small quantities, and intermitted at intervals in fear of discovery--has been mixed with your medicine; and he asserts that the guilty person is Mrs. Mozeen." It was impossible that I could openly express the indignation that I felt on hearing this. My position toward Rothsay forced me to restrain myself. "May I ask," the doctor continued, "if Mrs. Mozeen was aware that she had a legacy to expect at your death?" "Certainly." "Has she a brother who is one of the dispensers employed by your chemists?" "Yes." "Did she know that I doubted if my prescriptions had been properly prepared, and that I intended to make inquiries?" "I wrote to her myself on the subject." "Do you think her brother told her that I was referred to _him_, when I went to the chemists?" "I have no means of knowing what her brother did." "Can you at least tell me when she received your letter?" "She must have received it on the day when she left my house." The doctor rose with a grave face. "These are rather extraordinary coincidences," he remarked. I merely replied, "Mrs. Mozeen is as incapable of poisoning as I am." The doctor wished me good-morning. I repeat here my conviction of my housekeeper's innocence. I protest against the cruelty which accuses her. And, whatever may have been her motive in suddenly leaving my service, I declare that she still possesses my sympathy and esteem, and I invite her to return to me if she ever sees these lines.