“I am certain,” reflected Isa Gritton, as she retired to rest on that night, “that Lottie Stone bears a clear conscience, whatever her reason for silence may be. How her poor face, worn and anxious as it looked at first, brightened when she heard of the support which God gives to the faith of His people in time of need. I wish that I had had an opportunity of speaking to her after the service was ended, but when I rose from my knees and looked for her, she was gone. I trust her—yes, I will trust her. Is there not a certain degree of faith which Christians should extend one to another, as it is the property of charity that it thinketh no evil?”
Lottie and her strange conduct had been much on the mind of Isa, and when she came to breakfast on the following morning it was with the intention of proposing again to drive over to Axe for a second interview with her truant little maid. But thoughts of Lottie were driven away for the time by a subject of closer personal interest.
When Isa entered the breakfast-room a little later than usual, she found Gaspar there already, pacing up and down the apartment with a letter in his hand, which had come by the early post. He looked restless, excited, and angry, and Isa saw that no light cause of annoyance disturbed him, before he broke forth with the angry question, “Is this your doing, Isa; have I to thank you for this?” and thrust into the hand of his sister the note which he had just received.
The epistle did not look at all formidable; it was brief, written on tinted paper, and in a lady’s handwriting. It was no formal law document, yet had it been read with much the same emotions as a summons to the bar of justice might have been. With anxiety, mingled with interest, Miss Gritton read as follows:—
London, May 1.
Sir,—I have just received information which has greatly surprised me, to the effect that the £4000 which I had been led to believe had been invested in property lost in the Orissa was actually invested in the cargo of the St. Christopher, which safely arrived at its destination, and, as I am given to understand, realized a profit of fifty per cent. I shall place the affair in the hands of my lawyer unless I receive a satisfactory explanation from yourself. As a personal interview is desirable, I shall go immediately to Axe, which is, I understand, in your neighbourhood, and either appoint an hour for meeting you at the hotel, or, as I am acquainted with your sister, call on Miss Gritton and see you in her presence.—I have the honour to be, &c.,
Cora Madden.
“Gaspar, I had nothing to do with this; Cora has learned nothing from me,” said Isa, as she returned the note to her brother.
He looked at her with a keen, suspicious gaze; but she met it with that frank, open glance which carries conviction of truthfulness even to the sceptical mind.