Fisher's glasses and the steady eyes looking at her over their tops. "I
believe I did see him--he was dressed in a--"
Even Mrs. Arbuthnot looked at her now, and in her gentlest voice
said they would be late for lunch.
It was at this point that Mrs. Fisher asked for references. She
had no wish to find herself shut up for four weeks with somebody who
saw things. It is true that there were three sitting-rooms, besides
the garden and the battlements at San Salvatore, so that there would be
opportunities of withdrawal from Mrs. Wilkins; but it would be
disagreeable to Mrs. Fisher, for instance, if Mrs. Wilkins were
suddenly to assert that she saw Mr. Fisher. Mr. Fisher was dead; let
him remain so. She had no wish to be told he was walking about the
garden. The only reference she really wanted, for she was much too old
and firmly seated in her place in the world for questionable associates
to matter to her, was one with regard to Mrs. Wilkins's health. Was
her health quite normal? Was she an ordinary, everyday, sensible
woman? Mrs. Fisher felt that if she were given even one address she
would be able to find out what she needed. So she asked for
references, and her visitors appeared to be so much taken aback--Mrs.
Wilkins, indeed, was instantly sobered--that she added, "It is usual.
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