She looked up from the letters she was reading across to Ryder, who was standing watching her on the other side of the desk. He caught her glance and, leaning over to take some manuscript, he said:
"Yes, I don't want these papers to get—"
His eye suddenly rested on the letters she was holding. He stopped short, and reaching forward he tried to snatch them from her.
"What have you got there?" he exclaimed.
He took the letters and she made no resistance. It would be folly to force the issue now, she thought. Another opportunity would present itself. Ryder locked the letters up very carefully in the drawer on the left-hand side of his desk, muttering to himself rather than speaking to Shirley:
"How on earth did they get among my other papers?"
"From Judge Rossmore, were they not?" said Shirley boldly.
"How did you know it was Judge Rossmore?" demanded Ryder suspiciously.
"I didn't know that his name had been mentioned."
"I saw his signature," she said simply. Then she added: "He's the father of the girl you don't like, isn't he?"
"Yes, he's the——"