The doctor was present at this moment, and would no doubt explain to the coroner and the jury whether he thought that Mrs.Hazeldene had the slightest tendency to heart disease, which might have had a sudden and fatal ending.
"The coroner was, of course, very considerate to the bereaved husband.
He tried by circumlocution to get at the point he wanted, namely, Mrs.
Hazeldene's mental condition lately.

Mr.Hazeldene seemed loath to talk about this.

No doubt he had been warned as to the existence of the small bottle found in his wife's satchel.
"'It certainly did seem to me at times,' he at last reluctantly admitted, 'that my wife did not seem quite herself.

She used to be very gay and bright, and lately I often saw her in the evening sitting, as if brooding over some matters, which evidently she did not care to communicate to me.' "Still the coroner insisted, and suggested the small bottle.
"'I know, I know,' replied the young man, with a short, heavy sigh.

'You mean--the question of suicide--I cannot understand it at all--it seems so sudden and so terrible--she certainly had seemed listless and troubled lately--but only at times--and yesterday morning, when I went to business, she appeared quite herself again, and I suggested that we should go to the opera in the evening.