"Very well. My showing it to you will prove the sort of estimation I have for it."
Taking the letter from his unresisting hand, I opened it and laid it before me. It ran as follows:—
"Mr. Chandos,—It is rumoured that you have some trouble in your house, and are suspecting your servants. The probability is that they are honest; they have been with you long enough to be proved. There are two strangers under your roof: the companion to Mrs. Chandos, and the younger lady, Miss Hereford. Please just reflect that all the misfortunes have occurred since these ladies entered Chandos. In doing this, perhaps you will find a way out of the wood. The suggestion is offered by
"A Friend."
"This would implicate Mrs. Penn as well as myself!" I exclaimed.
"Yes," he said. "Forgetting that Mrs. Penn is a sufferer. Or perhaps not knowing it."
The tears rose: I could not help it. "Then—do you doubt me, Mr. Chandos?"
He touched my arm; and those grave eyes of his, half laughing then, looked right into mine.
"Doubt you? So greatly that I am deliberating whether I shall not call in the police again and give you in charge."
It was said in jest I knew, but at that moment it told upon me, and the sobs were palpably near the surface. Hickens was heard approaching with the basin of water.