“Every one is destroyed!” she replies almost fiercely; “most of them unopened.”
“Can you remember the date when Rita Vernon first came to you, and who sent her?”
“Yes, well,” answers Speranza. “It was the 21st of June, 1894. She brought a letter from you, written at the instance of the Duke of Ravensdale. I at once made her my secretary and general amanuensis.”
“Has she served you faithfully?”
“None more so,” she replies.
“Mrs. de Lara, you have heard Mr. Trackem’s statement, that you sent her with a note to him on the day of the supposed murder. Is this true, or false?”
“False!” she replies sternly.
“And you have heard Victoire’s declaration that you left a letter for her, apprising her of your departure for London the night of the supposed murder. Is this true?”
“It is not,” she answers. “I wrote no letter.”
“Will you give his lordship and the gentlemen of the jury your version of what occurred on the night in question.”