Lady Rose took the letter and read it. Now, indeed, her cheek did blanch, and her blue eyes widened with horror.
"This is strange," she said, growing whiter and whiter. "Strange, but impossible—quite impossible!"
"Coupled with my evidence, it is enough to hang any man in England," said Storms, reaching out his hand for the paper, which she returned to him in a dazed sort of dream.
"What do you want, young man? How do you mean to use this letter?"
"I have told Sir Noel what I mean, Lady Rose. I am a poor man, he is a rich one. I only asked a little of his wealth in exchange for his son's life."
"Well?"
"He would not listen to me. He ordered me from the house. He tried not to believe me, so tough is his pride. It might have been disbelief; it might have been rage that made him so white; but he looked like a marble man, face, neck, and hands. That was after the first hint. He gave me no chance to tell the whole, though I had this letter in my pocket."
"Then you gave him no proof?" questioned Lady Rose, eagerly.
"Proof? He did not wait for that. No dog was ever ordered from a door as I was. But he shall have the letter; he shall hear all that I have told you. Then he will come to terms."
"He never will!" murmured Lady Rose. "Not even to save his son's life!"