“I do.”
Her eyes lingered on the scrap, and followed it as it was passed back and marked as an exhibit.
Mr. Moffat recalled her to the matter in hand.
“What did you do next, Miss Cumberland?”
“I answered the note.”
“May I ask to what effect?”
“I refused Mr. Ranelagh’s request. I said that I could not do what he asked, and told him to wait till the next day, and he would see how I felt towards him and towards Adelaide. That was all. I could not write much. I was suffering greatly.”
“Suffering in mind, or suffering in body?”
“Suffering in my mind. I was terrified, but that feeling did not last very long. Soon I grew happy, happier than I had been in weeks, happier than I had ever been in all my life before. I found that I loved Adelaide better than I did myself. This made everything easy, even the sending of the answer I have told you about to Mr. Ranelagh.”
“Miss Cumberland, how did you get this answer to Mr. Ranelagh?”