"Of course I have seen it before. You know it is my handwriting."
"Did you furnish that address with the expectation of conducting a clandestine correspondence?"
An increasing pallor overspread her features, but in a very firm decided voice, she replied:
"Yes sir."
"Knowing that your legal guardian would forbid such an interchange of letters, you directed them enclosed under cover to Mrs. Mason?"
"I did."
The slip of paper fluttered to the floor, and her fingers locked each other.
"A gentleman picked up that scrap of paper, in one of the squares located far up town, and recognizing the name of my ward, very discreetly placed it in the possession of her guardian."
"Mr. Palma, were you not in a carriage at that square on Tuesday?"
"I was not. My time is rather too valuable to be wasted in a rendezvous at out-of-the-way squares while a snowstorm is in full blast. What possible attraction do you imagine such folly could offer me?"