‘As you will have observed, it is evidently a fragment of a burnt letter. I picked it up quite by accident on the floor of the sitting-room. The writing I know for a fact to be that of Madame De Vigne. As for the meaning of it—your penetration, my dear sir, is surely not at fault as regards that?’
‘It is a curious document, certainly—a very curious document,’ remarked the old man drily.
‘It is more than that, Mr Etheridge,’ remarked her ladyship in her most tragic tones—‘it is a revelation! Who is this husband of whom mention is made? Who is this convict who is so openly alluded to? Are they, or are they not, one and the same man, and if so, is he alive or dead? Those are points, I should imagine, on which Sir William will require to be fully enlightened; for, of course, Mr Etheridge, you will see how imperative it is that the paper should at once be laid before him. What a very, very fortunate thing that I happened to find it in the way I did!’
‘Yes, madam, Sir William shall see the paper, undoubtedly. A very fortunate thing, as you say, that your ladyship happened to find it, and not any one else, for you, madam, I am quite sure, are discretion itself.’
‘Just so—just so,’ responded her ladyship uneasily.—‘What a strange old man!’ she said to herself. ‘I don’t know what to make of him this morning.’
‘Permit me to whisper a secret in your ladyship’s ear,’ resumed Mr Etheridge with his odd little smile. ‘I have had a message. Sir William will be here—here at the Palatine—in the course of a few hours.’
Her ladyship could not repress a start. Here was news indeed!
‘But not a word to any one at present, I beg,’ continued the old gentleman. ‘I want Sir William’s arrival to be a surprise.’
‘Ah, just so,’ answered her ladyship with a complacent nod.—‘It will be like a bombshell thrown into their midst,’ she added to herself. Then aloud: ‘Not a word shall pass my lips, Mr Etheridge. By-the-bye, do you think it at all likely that Sir William will require to see me—I mean with regard to the scrap of paper?’
‘I think it very likely indeed, madam.’