"I think it is possible. And till I am sure that my fears are unfounded, I will not consent to Lady Wilmersley's remaining in your sole care." "Do you mind telling me what basis you have for such a monstrous suspicion?" asked Cyril very quietly. "Certainly. You bring me a young lady who has been flogged. You tell me that she is your wife, yet you profess to know nothing of her injuries and give an explanation which, although not impossible, is at all events highly improbable. This lady, who is not only beautiful but charming, you neglect in the most astonishing manner. No, I am not forgetting that you had other pressing duties to attend to, but even so, if you had cared for your wife, you could not have remained away from her as you did. It was nothing less than heartless to leave a poor young woman, in the state she was in, alone among strangers. Your letter only partially satisfied me. Your arguments would have seemed to me perfectly unconvincing, if I had not been so anxious to believe the best. As it was, although I tried to ignore it, a root of suspicion still lingered in my mind. Then, when you finally do turn up, instead of hurrying to your wife's bedside you try in every way to avoid meeting her till at last I have to insist upon your doing so. I tell you, that if she had not shown such marked affection for you, I should have had no doubt of your guilt." "Nonsense! Do I look like a wife-beater?" "No, but the only murderess I ever knew looked like one of Raphael's Madonnas." "Thanks for the implication." Cyril bowed sarcastically. "The more I observed Mrs. Thompkins," continued the doctor, "the more I became convinced that a severe shock was responsible for her amnesia, and that she had never been insane nor was she at all likely to become so." "Even physicians are occasionally mistaken in their diagnosis, I have been told." "You are right; that is why I have given you the benefit of the doubt," replied the doctor calmly. "This morning, however, I made a discovery, which practically proves that my suspicions were not unfounded." "And pray what is this great discovery of yours?" drawled Cyril. "I had been worrying about this case all night, when it suddenly occurred to me to consult the peerage. I wanted to find out who Lady Wilmersley's people were, so that I might communicate with them if I considered it necessary. The first thing I found was that your wife was born in 18--, so that now she is in her twenty-eighth year. My patient is certainly not more than twenty. How do you account for this discrepancy in their ages?" Cyril forced himself to smile superciliously. "And is my wife's youthful appearance your only reason for doubting her identity?" The doctor seemed a little staggered by Cyril's nonchalant manner. "It is my chief reason, but as I have just taken the trouble to explain, not my only one." "Oh, really! And if she is not my wife, whom do you suspect her of being?" "I have no idea."