The Argosy — page 200: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The White Witch. 185 he thought unlikely, for the references Mrs. Mayne had made from time to time to Norwich and its neighbourhood had slipped from her casually and naturally. As for the name, he could not remember the most trifling circumstance to induce suspicion that they had given a false one; but Godfrey determined to hunt out particulars of all the doctors, within reasonable range, who had died during the past four years. He found five. The only one of these who had died in the neighbourhood of Norwich was a Dr. Davidson ; he had died two years ago, aged seventy- two; but he was reported to have been a bachelor. However, Godfrey visited his tombstone, learnt in the village where he had lived that he had inhabited the same old house and been waited on by the same old housekeeper for thirty years, and having unearthed the housekeeper and found nothing suspicious in her answers to his questions, he had to come to the conclusion that there was no clue there. He let it go reluctantly, however, for ‘ Dixon” seemed to him a likely change from ‘‘ Davidson.” He made a note of all these particulars. The second dead doctor was a Mr. Farren, who had lived on the borders between Norfolk and Suffolk, and had left five daughters ; but no suspicion could attach here. ‘The third was a Dr. Lang, who had left no daughters at all. He made inquiries about both of these, and went to the places in which they had lived. There was nothing suspicious about either of them. Mr. Farren had lost his wife a year before his own death, and both names were on the tombstone over the grave where they were buried: three out of the five daughters were settled in the neighbourhood, the other two were abroad. Abroad! Godfrey’s heart leaped up. But soon came the information that the Misses Farren kept a boarding-house at Boulogne-sur-mer. Then he visited the late home of Dr. Lang. This gentleman had had two sons. One of them had died ; the other fell into wild habits and was shipped off by his father to the Colonies. The Doctor’s widow had gone to Torquay. He was forty-six only when he died, and had had no daughters, no nieces. However, Godfrey entered all this in his notes, The fourth doctor proved to have been only an apothecary and chemist, who had had a shrewish wife but no children. His name was Dale, and his widow had married his successor. Evidently there could be no track here ; however, down it all went in Godfrey’s note- book. The fifth and last was a Dr. Chorley, a man of supposed light character, but the ablest surgeon in the county. Two ladies were in existence, each claiming to be his widow; and a beautiful girl who passed for his niece, but might have been his daughter, had quitted Norfolk on his death, and was thought to have gone to London. Godfrey steadied himself against the wall on which he was leaning, as the old village gossip, whom he was lazily interrogating, told him this. VOL. XXXVIIL. N EONNIE DOO KS (EO) m