He went into the library, where he found the two doctors, and another person, whom he had not expected to see. This was a country gentleman--a wealthy landed squire and magistrate--whom Reginald Eversleigh had known from his boyhood. His name was Gilbert Ashburne; and he was an individual of considerable importance in the neighbourhood of Raynham, near which village he had a fine estate. Mr. Ashburne was standing with his back to the empty fireplace, in conversation with one of the medical men, when Reginald entered the room. He advanced a few paces, to shake hands with the young man, and then resumed his favourite magisterial attitude, leaning against the chimney-piece, with his hands in his trousers' pockets. "My dear Eversleigh," he said, "this is a very terrible affair--very terrible!" "Yes, Mr. Ashburne, my uncle's sudden death is indeed terrible." "But the manner of his death! It is not the suddenness only, but the nature--" "You forget, Mr. Ashburne," interposed one of the medical men, "Mr. Eversleigh knows nothing of the facts which I have stated to you." "Ah, he does not! I was not aware of that. You have no suspicion of any foul play in this sad business, eh, Mr. Eversleigh?" asked the magistrate. "No," answered Reginald. "There is only one person I could possibly suspect; and that person has herself given utterance to suspicions that sound like the ravings of madness." "You mean Lady Eversleigh?" said the Raynham doctor. "Pardon me," said Mr. Ashburne; "but this business is altogether so painful that it obliges me to touch upon painful subjects. Is there any truth in the report which I have heard of Lady Eversleigh's flight on the evening of some rustic gathering?" "Unhappily, the report has only too good a foundation. My uncle's wife did take flight with a lover on the night before last; but she returned yesterday, and had an interview with her husband. What took place at that interview I cannot tell you; but I imagine that my uncle forbade her to remain beneath his roof. Immediately after she had left him, he sent for me, and announced his determination to reinstate me in my old position as his heir. He would not, I am sure, have done this, had he believed his wife innocent." "And she left the castle at his bidding?" "It was supposed that she left the castle; but this morning she reappeared, and claimed the right to remain beneath this roof." "And where had she passed the night?" "Not in her own apartments. Of that I have been informed by her maid, who believed that she had left Raynham for good." "Strange!" exclaimed the magistrate. "If she is guilty, why does she remain here, where her guilt is known--where she maybe suspected of a crime, and the most terrible of crimes?" "Of what crime?" "Of murder, Mr. Eversleigh. I regret to tell you that these two medical gentlemen concur in the opinion that your uncle's death was caused by poison. A _post-mortem_ examination will be made to-night." "Upon what evidence?"