Lady Bassett, thus instructed, drove to all the banks, but found no clerk acquainted with Mr. Bassett's handwriting. He did not bank with anybody in the county.
She called on several persons she thought likely to possess letters or other writings of Richard Bassett. Not a scrap.
Then she began to fear. The case looked desperate.
Then she began to think. And she thought very hard indeed, especially at night.
In the dead of night she had an idea. She got up, and stole from her husband's side, and studied the anonymous letter.
Next day she sat down with the anonymous letter on her desk, and blushed, and trembled, and looked about like some wild animal scared. She selected from the anonymous letter several words—“character, abused, Sir, Charles, Bassett, lady, abandoned, friend, whether, ten, slanderer” etc.—and wrote them on a slip of paper. Then she locked up the anonymous letter. Then she locked the door. Then she sat down to a sheet of paper, and, after some more wild and furtive glances all around, she gave her whole mind to writing a letter.
And to whom did she write, think you?
To Richard Bassett.