“Let us hear the rest,” said her mother inexorably.
“There is only a postscript, and that merely says—'The flask that you filled I thank you for; it was so large that it was sufficient for——' I can't read the last word.”
“Let me see it, Alicia.”
A few minutes ago Alicia would have torn the precious letter up rather than let another eye fall upon it. That her devotion was a little disturbed was proved by her allowing her two advisers to study even a single sentence. Keeping her hand over the rest, she showed it to them. They bent their brows, and then simultaneously exclaimed—
“'Us both!'”
“Oh, it can't be!” cried the poor Baroness.
“It is absolutely certain,” said her mother in a terrible voice—“'It was so large that it was sufficient for us both!'”
“There is no doubt about it,” corroborated Sir Justin sternly. “The unfortunate young man has inadvertently confessed his deception.”
“It cannot be!” murmured the Baroness. “He said at the beginning that he travelled quite alone.”
“That is precisely what condemns him,” said her mother.