The Young Doctor looked at Crozier, surprised at her temerity, but Crozier only smiled gently. "It is in the desk there. Bring it to me, please," he said.
In a moment Kitty was beside him with the letter. He took it, turned it over, examined it carefully as though seeing it for the first time, and laid it on his knee.
"I have never opened it," he said. "There it is, just as it was handed to me."
"You don't know what is in it?" asked Kitty in a shocked voice. "Why, it may be that—"
"Oh, yes, I know what is in it!" he replied. "Her brother's confidences were enough. I didn't want to read it. I can imagine it all."
"It's pretty cowardly," remarked Kitty.
"No, I think not. It would only hurt, and the hurting could do no good.
I can hear what it says, and I don't want to see it."
He held the letter up to his ear whimsically. Then he handed it back to her, and she replaced it in the desk.
"So, there it is, and there it is," he sighed. "You have got my story, and it's bad enough, but you can see it's not what Burlingame suggested."
"Burlingame—but Burlingame's beneath notice," rejoined Kitty. "Isn't he, mother?"