"Oh! It is a common practice here, is it? My nephew had one about you to-day, which he threw into the fire at once, Mr. Planter. He has had several, I believe. Any one who pays attention to an anonymous letter deserves to receive plenty, that is all I can say. But this other letter, abusing my nephew, is not anonymous, you say? If it pretends to be from Mr. Reid, it must be something worse."
"Yes. I strongly suspect, from what you tell me, it is a forgery. There it is. You can show it to your nephew. If he thinks it worth while, he can wire to Reid."
She gave Mordaunt the letter on his return that night.
When he opened it he was startled. The writing so closely resembled John Reid's, several of whose notes, referring to business matters, he had preserved, that it was difficult at first to pronounce this to be a forgery. He read it aloud to his aunt. There was no direction, nor indication as to whom the letter was addressed.
It ran thus:
"Dear George,—You ask for my opinion of the Englishman, Sir Mordaunt Ballinger, whom you say you believe is a friend of mine. He was a friend of mine, until I discovered that he was a scoundrel, who ought not to be received into any respectable American house. His character is too well known in his own country for him to have any chance of retrieving his broken fortunes there by marrying an heiress. Therefore he has come here, laden with debt and dishonor, to try and induce some rich girl, for the sake of becoming 'My lady,' to marry him. On arrival, he first made up to Miss Hurlstone, but they soon saw that he was only a fortune-hunter, and showed him the door. Now I understand that he is pursuing Miss Planter. If you know the family, it would be but kind to warn them as to this Englishman's real character. He is a thorough profligate, and he has a contempt at heart for all that is American which he tries to conceal. It would be a sad day for any of our nice girls, in which she became his wife.
"I am, dear George, yours cordially,
"John Reid."
Mrs. Frampton was the first to speak.
"What do you mean to do? Wire at once?"