"That's a precious production! Was it addressed to yourself?"
"No—to Dawes, the colliery manager. He brought it to me yesterday."
Flaxman thought a moment.
"He is—if I remember right—with yourself, one of the five aggrieved parishioners in the Meynell case?"
"He is. But he is by no means personally hostile to Meynell—quite the contrary. He brought it to me in much distress, thinking it well that we should take counsel upon it, in case other documents of the same kind should be going about."
"And you, I imagine, pointed out to him the utter absurdity of the charge, advised him to burn the letter and hold his tongue?"
Barron was silent a moment. Then he said, with slow distinctness:
"I regret I was unable to do anything of the kind." Flaxman turned sharply on the speaker.
"You mean to say you believe there is a word of truth in that preposterous story?"
"I have good reason, unfortunately, to know that it cannot at once be put aside."