I can only suppose that she has brooded
so long over the enormity of the offence and the appalling words of
the curse that she has actually come at last to believe that poor,
simple-minded Panuel Lovell is the offender, and that she, as his
child, has inherited the curse."
'"A most admirable solution of the mystery," he said, his face
beaming with delight.'
XII
When Winnie got to this point she said, 'Yes, Henry, poor Sinfi seems
in some unaccountable way to have learnt all about that piece of
parchment and the curse written upon it. She has been under the
extraordinary delusion that her own father, poor Panuel Lovell, was
the violator of the tomb, and that she has inherited the curse.'
'Good God, Winnie!' I exclaimed; and when I recalled what I had seen
of Sinfi in the cottage, I was racked with perplexity, pity, and
wonder. What could it mean?
'Yes,' said Winifred, 'she has been possessed by this astounding
delusion, and it used to bring on fits which were appalling to
witness. They are passed now, however.'
'Is she recovered now?'
'Mr.
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