"Well, you know now," cried Fanks, sharply. "Please give them to this lady without delay."
"Mais certainement," replied the Frenchman, with a bow. "Pardon, monsieur."
He retired quickly, and in a few minutes returned with the packet of letters—open.
"Have you read these?" cried Judith, indignantly, as she took the packet.
Monsieur Judas smiled in a deprecating manner, and shook his head.
"I am a man of the honour, mademoiselle," he said with great dignity, "an' I haf not read ze lettres. I tawt de lettres pour moi, and I did open zem. But wen I do zee zem in anglais I see it is mistook, an' read zem not."
Fanks kept his eyes on Judas as he spoke, to see if he was speaking the truth, but was quite unable to arrive at any decision, so calm was the Frenchman's voice, so immobile the expression of his face.
"Well, at all events we have got the letters," he said to Miss Varlins. "And now—"
"Now you can take them home to read," replied Miss Varlins, contemptuously, tossing the packet to him.
"But are you not going to examine them?"