CHAPTER VIII
On the 14th the Directors and their legal advisers met for the
reading of the report, with closed doors. These were the terms
in which the Commissioners related the results of their inquiry:
'Private and confidential.
'We have the honour to inform our Directors that we arrived in Venice
on December 6, 1860. On the same day we proceeded to the palace
inhabited by Lord Montbarry at the time of his last illness and death.
'We were received with all possible courtesy by Lady Montbarry's brother,
Baron Rivar. "My sister was her husband's only attendant throughout
his illness," the Baron informed us. "She is overwhelmed by grief
and fatigue--or she would have been here to receive you personally.
What are your wishes, gentlemen? and what can I do for you in her
ladyship's place?"
'In accordance with our instructions, we answered that the death
and burial of Lord Montbarry abroad made it desirable to obtain more
complete information relating to his illness, and to the circumstances
which had attended it, than could be conveyed in writing.
We explained that the law provided for the lapse of a certain
interval of time before the payment of the sum assured, and we
expressed our wish to conduct the inquiry with the most respectful
consideration for her ladyship's feelings, and for the convenience
of any other members of the family inhabiting the house.
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