themselves; and after suffering during eight days from alternate acute
pain, and heavy, unconquerable drowsiness, she expired in her nephew's
arms. This sudden and fatal illness of his relative appeared to reawaken
all Frederick Everett's tenderness and affection for her. He was
incessant in his close attendance in the sick-chamber, permitting no one
else to administer to his aunt either aliment or medicine. On this latter
point, indeed, he insisted, with strange fierceness, taking the medicine
with his own hand from the man who brought it; and after administering
the prescribed quantity, carefully locking up the remainder in a cabinet
in his bed-room.

On the morning of the day that Mrs. Fitzhugh died, her ordinary medical
attendant, Mr. Smith, terrified and perplexed by the urgency of the
symptoms exhibited by his patient, called in the aid of a
locally-eminent physician, Dr. Archer, or Archford--the name is not very
distinctly written in my memoranda of these occurrences; but we will
call him Archer--who at once changed the treatment till then pursued,
and ordered powerful emetics to be administered, without, however, as
we have seen, producing any saving or sensible effect. The grief of
Frederick Everett, when all hope was over, was unbounded. He threw
himself, in a paroxysm of remorse or frenzy, upon the bed, accusing
himself of having murdered her, with other strange and incoherent
expressions, upon which an intimation soon afterwards made by Dr. Archer
threw startling light. That gentleman, conjointly with Mr. Smith,
requested an immediate interview with Captain Everett, and Mr. Hardyman,
the deceased lady's land-steward and solicitor, who happened to be in
the house at the time. The request was of course complied with, and Dr.
Archer at once bluntly stated that, in his opinion, _poison_ had been
administered to the deceased lady, though of what precise kind he was
somewhat at a loss to conjecture--opium essentially, he thought, though
certainly not in any of its ordinary preparations--one of the alkaloids
probably which chemical science had recently discovered. Be this as it
may, a _post-mortem_ examination of the body would clear up all doubts,
and should take place as speedily as possible. Captain Everett at once
acceded to Dr. Archer's proposal, at the same time observing that he was
quite sure the result would entirely disprove that gentleman's
assumption. Mr. Hardyman also fully concurred in the necessity o