"Who found the note?"
"Mrs. Bryant and Susanna. Mrs. Bryant wanted to have my room turned out, and she insisted on having the keys of my boxes. I was going off for the day with uncle, so I could not help myself. And when we came back in the evening, she had found the bank-note; she and Susanna together."
Lettice found it a wonderful relief to pour out all this; and Felix drew her on to tell a good deal more, by questions at intervals. If his tone were dry, it was not indifferent. A lurid gleam came into his eyes.
"Plain enough!" he said at length. "Mrs. Bryant put it into your box herself."
Astonishment at his penetration rendered Lettice dumb.
"That woman hates you like sin. I saw,—it was clear enough. She's afraid you may stand in the way of her interests. You're not half sharp, child! But I should have thought Dr. Bryant had more sense."
"He did hold out for a long time. He wouldn't believe I could do such a thing. But when the note was actually found there—"
"Where it had been actually put by his own wife!"
"Felix—you can't know—"
"Can't prove it, if you like. I know well enough. Why else should she have arranged so cleverly to get to the box, and to have Susanna at hand just at the right moment?"