Mr. Brading was late before he came to his room that morning, but as soon as he came, Mr. Bristow went in to tell him what he had heard from Arthur. And they were still discussing the mysterious disappearance of the letter, when a messenger knocked at the door and announced that a lady was waiting to see Mr. Brading in his room downstairs.
"She is a real lady, sir," replied the man, in answer to the question, "What name?"
"I will be down directly," said Mr. Brading. And he followed the man almost immediately.
In the little downstairs parlour sat a thin, fragile-looking woman dressed in widow's mourning, who was evidently making a great effort to maintain her calmness, for Mr. Brading saw her lips quiver as she rose from her seat and bowed in greeting.
"My name is Murray," she said in a low, tremulous voice, "and I am the mother of Arthur Murray, who is in your employment."
She paused for a moment as if to gather strength and resolution for her next words, and then she said quite calmly: "My relative, Lady Mary Murray, has been to see me this morning, and she tells me that you have so grave a charge to make against my son that it will be necessary for me to remove him and send him out of the neighbourhood to avoid disgrace being brought upon our name. Will you tell me exactly what has happened, and all that Arthur has done? I am not sure that I can believe you any more than I could Lady Mary, but I want to know the worst, and at once," she added with a gasp.
Mr. Brading was afraid she was going to faint, and as soon as she had finished speaking, he rose and went to a cupboard in the corner, and the next minute was holding a glass of wine to her lips. "You must drink this before I answer one word, Mrs. Murray." He spoke in a commanding tone that helped the lady to gather all her forces to hear the terrible words that might blight all her hopes for Arthur's future.
When Mr. Brading saw that she was a little stronger, he said: "I wish I could explain all the mystery that surrounds the disappearance of Lady Mary's letter and cheque. But this I may say: that whatever suspicion I had of your son, and I admit that he has lain under this suspicion for some little time, still his behaviour through this trying ordeal, and something I heard from my man of business this morning, have completely cleared his character in my estimation, so that you may rest assured that I should be very sorry to part with him now. And I can only hope that you will not deem it necessary to remove him just yet, even if fortune should come to you. I have acted towards him as I hope someone would act towards my own son if he were placed in similar circumstances. Appearances were very much against him, and after my second interview with Lady Mary, I feared that I should be compelled to ask him to resign his situation. But on mature reflection, I deemed that if this stigma was ever to be removed from him, he had better remain where he was, and, however hard it might be for him, and myself too, we must each bear our share of the discomfort. Arthur has borne his bravely and well, although I can see it has been a very bitter trial to him."
"Thank you! God bless you, Mr. Brading!" said Mrs. Murray, rising.
But she spoke in such a tremulous tone, and seemed altogether so weak, that Mr. Brading replaced her in her seat, and, ringing his bell, he said to the man who answered it: "Order my carriage to be ready in ten minutes, and ask Mr. Murray to come to me at once."