"Well; the accusation, for one thing."
Lady Wyke did not reply. She was thinking how best to get the better of this iceberg. Threats did not move him; passion did not appeal to him; tears had no effect. Strange to say, the more he held out the more she admired him. However, if she wished to gain him against his will, and that she intended to manage, being so infatuated, the sole thing to do was to talk business. He must be forced to see that she had the upper hand, and if he did grasp that fact he might yield. But even then she was not very sure of victory.
"Let us talk calmly," said Lady Wyke, lighting a fresh cigarette. "I want to marry you, and I mean to have you. That is not an easy thing for a woman to say to the man she loves."
Edwin admitted this, and suggested that she should lay her cards on the table forthwith. "Then I shall show you my hand."
With an ironical smile she fumbled under the cushion and produced a letter deliberately to pass over to him. "It's a copy," she observed, while he read it. "You see, I can't trust you with the original."
"Well, perhaps it is as wise not to do so. H'm!" Edwin glanced over the four or five lines and nodded. "This is my letter to Sir Hector saying that I was coming down to see him that night at seven o'clock. I wrote this letter--the original one, I mean--in answer to one which your husband wrote me asking me to call. How did you get the original of this?"
"From Neddy Mellin, my nephew. He took the letter from the hall table, where it had been left by the postman on that night. He did not show it to his mother, as he is clever, and hoped to get money for it."
"He read it, I suppose?"
"Oh, yes. The boy is far in advance of his years, and knows a thing or two. He guessed that you were guilty, since the letter said that you were calling to see Sir Hector. However, Neddy gave the letter to me, thinking I could get some money for it for him. I told him to hold his tongue, and, lest he should not, I sent him to London. He is quite safe. Well, now, Mr. Craver, do you deny that you were in his house on that night?"
"Oh, no," said Edwin, smoothly. "I came before my letter arrived, it seems, as Hall brought it while I was in the house. Wyke wished to see me with regard to his discovery that you were alive. He told me that he could not marry Claudia, because you had turned up. But he loved Claudia, and not being able to marry her thought he would make her happy by giving her to me."