She gave a gasp of surprise. “You have found it? Where—where was it?”
“In the garden,” he repeated, with a certain doggedness.
She looked up at him. “Where is it now?”
“In my pocket,” he said. “Do you want it?”
“I think I had better have it,” she said.
“You are sure?” His eyes met hers with the old challenging look, and her own fell beneath them.
Nevertheless she held out her hand. “Please!” she said.
The next moment she found the missing letter thrust into her fingers, but she did not even look at it. She was staring at his retreating figure as he went out and closed the door sharply behind him.
CHAPTER X
REVELATION
She had it in her hand at last—that letter which had caused her so much doubt and anxiety. She sat there holding it after the closing of the door, wondering, puzzled, troubled. He had found it—he must have found it—under the cedar-tree the night before. Why had he kept it back? Or, having kept it, why did he give it to her now? Suspicion stabbed her, and she turned the envelope over. Had it been opened? It was impossible to say. It had obviously been rubbed from having been carried in a pocket; but there was no sign of weather-stain upon it. She was instantly convinced that it had not lain out all night. Yet why had he kept it?