Third Period Chapter 56 Fanny's Narrative

Fanny returned to her lodging profoundly discouraged. She was filled
with this terrible secret that she had discovered. The only man who
could advise at this juncture was Mr. Mountjoy, and he was gone. And
she knew not what had become of her mistress. What could she do? The
responsibility was more than she could bear.

The conversation with the French nurse firmly established one thing in
her mind. The man who was buried in the cemetery of Auteuil with the
name of Lord Harry Norland on a headstone, the man who had lingered so
long with pulmonary disease, was the man whose death she had witnessed.
It was Oxbye the Dane. Of that there could be no doubt. Equally there
was no doubt in her own mind that he had been poisoned by the
doctor--by Mrs. Vimpany's husband--in the presence and, to all
appearance, with the consent and full knowledge of Lord Harry himself.
Then her mistress was in the power of these two men--villains who had
now added murder to their other crimes. As for herself, she was alone,
almost friendless; in a week or two she would be penniless. If she told
her tale, what mischief might she not do? If she was silent, what
mischief might not follow?

She sat down to write to the only friend she had. But her trouble froze
her brain. She had not been able to put the case plainly. Words failed
her.