"No," said Aunt Adèle, "no one knows it except you and me...."
But Steyn was not satisfied:
"We ought not to have read that letter," he said.
"I don't know how I came to do it," said Aunt Adèle. "Something impelled me to, I don't know what. I'm not naturally inquisitive. I had the pieces in my hand to tear them up still smaller. I tore the two pieces into four...."
Mechanically, Steyn tore the four pieces into eight.
"What are you doing?" asked Aunt Adèle.
"Destroying the letter," said Steyn.
"Wouldn't you let Lot...?"
"No, no," said Steyn, "what does Lot want with it? There!..."
He tore up the letter and dropped the pieces, very small, into the paper-basket.