Stepping back from the bedside, Mrs. Woodhouse held
the bottle to the light, and then exclaimed, in a tone
which froze my blood, ^^My love, Vve given you the
Imvmentr

Should my life be protracted to my hundredth year,
I shall never forget the agony of that moment. My

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THE WOODHOUSE CORRESPONDENCE

cries bnmght BameB, who, with commendable prompti-
tude, sent off one of the footmen on a bicycle to fetch
the doctor and the stomach-pump. Meanwhile Barnes
himself vigorously plied me with salad-oil, salt, mus-
tard, and warm water, while my housdceeper tickled
the back of my throat with a feather. During this
frightful crisis Mrs. Woodhouse, instead of attempt-
ing to render assistance, stood wringing her hands and
exclaiming, with what I will hope was not simulated
distress, **I have killed my husband P'

Meanwhile the doctor arrived, and you may conjec-
ture my relief when he informed me that the principal
ingredient in the liniment was not, as I had feared,
laudaniun, but soap ; and that an extraordinary erup-
tion of coloured bubbles, which had caused me great
alarm, was due to this comparatively innocuous cause.
Having now rallied from the shock, I coUected all my
moral force (which I believe is not inconsiderable),
and ordered Mrs. Woodhouse to leave the house which
she had so nearly rendered desolate. She recognised
that in my voice and eye which could not be trifled

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THE WOODHOUSE CORRESPONDENCE

with, and quitted my roof without another word. She
is now staying at the Rectory, pending those legal
arrangements which it will be your business to make.
