While she herself had been certain of her impending death, she in no way communicated this to Forster. Her excuse for prepaying his expenses was expressed only as a desire to acknowledge his independence of her. She assured him—as he well knew himself—that Mister Pilgrim would repay her on his return to London, once his treatments had proved successful. That Doctor Jung could help him, she said, was undoubted. It was merely a matter of time.Until the day of the avalanche, which now seemed remote as something from another age, Lady Quartermaine had maintained her liaison with Pilgrim through her meetings with and letters to and from Doctor Jung. Early on, in the wake of their arrival in Zürich, she had also been allowed to visit him twice—perhaps three times. Forster had seen his employer only on the occasion of Lady Quartermaine’s remains being removed to England. They had not spoken that day and Pilgrim had been so distracted that it was entirely possible he had not even recognized his valet.
