at concealment. We were even admitted to her ladyship's own room--
on a subsequent occasion, when she went out to take the air.
Our instructions recommended us to examine his lordship's residence,
because the extreme privacy of his life at Venice, and the
remarkable departure of the only two servants in the house,
might have some suspicious connection with the nature of his death.
We found nothing to justify suspicion.

'As to his lordship's retired way of life, we have conversed on
the subject with the consul and the banker--the only two strangers
who held any communication with him. He called once at the bank
to obtain money on his letter of credit, and excused himself from
accepting an invitation to visit the banker at his private residence,
on the ground of delicate health. His lordship wrote to the same
effect on sending his card to the consul, to excuse himself
from personally returning that gentleman's visit to the palace.
We have seen the letter, and we beg to offer the following copy of it.
"Many years passed in India have injured my constitution.
I have ceased to go into society; the one occupation of my life
now is the study of Oriental literature. The air of Italy is better
for me than the air of England, or I should never have left home.
Pray accept the apologies of a student and an invalid. The active
part of my life is at an end." The self-seclusion of his lordship
seems to us to be explained in these brief lines. We have not,
however, on that account spared our inquiries in other directions.
Nothing to excite a suspicion of anything wrong has come to
our knowledge.

'As to the departure of the lady's maid, we have seen the woman's
receipt for her wages, in which it is expressly stated that she