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The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch XII - Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch XII
Wilkie Collins
“Do you think she is mad?' Agnes asked.
'I think she is simply wicked. False, superstitious, inveterately cruel—but not mad. I believe her main motive in coming here was to enjoy the luxury of frightening you.'
'She has frightened me. I am ashamed to own it—but so it is.'
Henry looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and seated himself on the sofa by her side.
'I am very anxious about you, Agnes,' he said.

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch XI - Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch XI
Wilkie Collins
Lady Montbarry, Miss.'
Agnes was writing a letter, when the servant astonished her by announcing the visitor's name. Her first impulse was to refuse to see the woman who had intruded on her. But Lady Montbarry had taken care to follow close on the servant's heels. Before Agnes could speak, she had entered the room.
'I beg to apologise for my intrusion, Miss Lockwood. I have a question to ask you, in which I am very much interested. No one can answer me but yourself.

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Chs IX and X - Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Chs IX and X
Wilkie Collins
Now, my good creature, whatever you have to say to me, out with it at once! I don't want to hurry you needlessly; but these are business hours, and I have other people's affairs to attend to besides yours.'
Addressing Ferrari's wife, with his usual blunt good-humour, in these terms, Mr. Troy registered the lapse of time by a glance at the watch on his desk, and then waited to hear what his client had to say to him.

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch VIII - Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch VII
Wilkie Collins
On the 14th the Directors and their legal advisers met for the reading of the report, with closed doors. These were the terms in which the Commissioners related the results of their inquiry: 'Private and confidential.
'We have the honour to inform our Directors that we arrived in Venice on December 6, 1860. On the same day we proceeded to the palace inhabited by Lord Montbarry at the time of his last illness and death.

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch VII - Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch VII
Wilkie Collins
Some days later, the insurance offices (two in number) received the formal announcement of Lord Montbarry's death, from her ladyship's London solicitors. The sum insured in each office was five thousand pounds—on which one year's premium only had been paid. In the face of such a pecuniary emergency as this, the Directors thought it desirable to consider their position. The medical advisers of the two offices, who had recommended the insurance of Lord Montbarry's life, were called into council over their own reports. The result excited some interest among persons connected with the business of life insurance.

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch VI - Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch VI
Wilkie Collins
The next day, the friend and legal adviser of Agnes Lockwood, Mr. Troy, called on her by appointment in the evening.
Mrs. Ferrari—still persisting in the conviction of her husband's death—had sufficiently recovered to be present at the consultation. Assisted by Agnes, she told the lawyer the little that was known relating to Ferrari's disappearance, and then produced the correspondence connected with that event.

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch V - Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel - Second Part, Ch V
Wilkie Collins
After only one week of travelling in Scotland, my lord and my lady returned unexpectedly to London. Introduced to the mountains and lakes of the Highlands, her ladyship positively declined to improve her acquaintance with them. When she was asked for her reason, she answered with a Roman brevity, ‘I have seen Switzerland.’For a week more, the newly-married couple remained in London, in the strictest retirement. On one day in that week the nurse returned in a state of most uncustomary excitement from an errand on which Agnes had sent her.

The Haunted Hotel - First Part, Ch IV - Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel - First Part, Ch IV
Wilkie Collins
On the day of the marriage Agnes Lockwood sat alone in the little drawing-room of her London lodgings, burning the letters which had been written to her by Montbarry in the bygone time.The Countess’s maliciously smart description of her, addressed to Doctor Wybrow, had not even hinted at the charm that most distinguished Agnes — the artless expression of goodness and purity which instantly attracted everyone who approached her. She looked by many years younger than she really was. With her fair complexion and her shy manner, it seemed only natural to speak of her as ‘a girl,’ although she was now really advancing towards thirty years of age.

The Haunted Hotel - First Part, Ch III - Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel - First Part, Ch III
Wilkie Collins
There was a time when a man in search of the pleasures of gossip sought the society of ladies. The man knows better now. He goes to the smoking-room of his club.Doctor Wybrow lit his cigar, and looked round him at his brethren in social conclave assembled. The room was well filled; but the flow of talk was still languid. The Doctor innocently applied the stimulant that was wanted. When he inquired if anybody knew the Countess Narona, he was answered by something like a shout of astonishment.

The Haunted Hotel - First Part, Ch II - Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel - Part 1, Ch II
Wilkie Collins
It is one fact, sir, that I am a widow,’ she said. ‘It is another fact, that I am going to be married again.’There she paused, and smiled at some thought that occurred to her. Doctor Wybrow was not favourably impressed by her smile — there was something at once sad and cruel in it. It came slowly, and it went away suddenly. He began to doubt whether he had been wise in acting on his first impression. His mind reverted to the commonplace patients and the discoverable maladies that were waiting for him, with a certain tender regret.The lady went on.