"Is the report really true that you have lost that letter under the secret door? There is no time to duplicate it, so it must be recovered. Why didn't you write and tell me you had lost it?——"
"But he did," commented the reader.
"Both letters were intercepted before delivery, I imagine," said Kent-Lauriston, "but finish the note."
"—Do not try to see me again," read Stanley; "it might arouse suspicion, and you know how necessary it is for me to play the rôle of the innocent. I am more afraid of Inez than anyone else. I am sure she suspects there is something between us. There is no danger in Little Diplomacy; he is young enough to believe he knows everything, and that is a great safeguard. I have found a trusty messenger for our affairs in Jack Kingsland.
"As ever,
"Belle."
The Secretary stopped reading; his throat was very dry. He took a glass of Apollinaris, and then said:—
"These letters are not incriminating—in the way you mean."
"No, perhaps not in so many words; but you must ask yourself two questions concerning them. Are they letters that an honourable or refined woman would write to or receive from a married man, at any time, and particularly when she herself was practically engaged?"
"May I ask to what you imagine Darcy's expression, 'all I hold most dear,' refers?"
"Oh, his heart, or his love, or some such sentimental rubbish."