"A most original idea!"
"Rather wild, perhaps, but not without merit. Well, I put on my things, took my candle, and went into his room."
"Ho! ho! so it was you that left the door ajar!"
"It was. I went into the room quietly, and saw he was sound asleep. On the table near the bed was a bundle of letters which he had evidently been reading."
"How did you know it was the bundle you wanted?"
"Because I recognised Miss Marson's writing on the top letter."
"Well, seeing that was the bundle you were in search of, what did you do?"
"Rather a mean thing—I stole them."
"Stole them! Upon my word, Roger, you are a nice young man!"
"In fighting with a man like Melstane, I had to make use of his own weapons," retorted Roger, coolly. "It seems dishonourable to you for me to go into a man's room and steal a bundle of letters; but I was dealing with a scoundrel; those letters contained the honour of a young and inexperienced girl whom he held at his mercy. If I had awakened him there would have been a row, he would have raised the alarm, and I would have got into trouble, so I did the best thing—the only thing to be done under the circumstances and stole the letters."