"Please don't use any other! The matter's too serious."
"Scarcely to be accepted without a close examination of the evidence."
"Unquestionably. Does any point occur to you?"
Now Dr. Nash had nothing ready. "Well," he said, dubiously, "in such a very difficult matter it might be rash...." Then he thought of something to say, suddenly. "Well—yes! It certainly does occur to me that ... No—perhaps not—perhaps not!..."
"What were you going to say?"
"That there is no direct proof that the forged letter was ever sent to Australia." This sounded well, and appeared like a tribute to correctness and caution. It meant nothing whatever.
"Only the Australian postmark," said Gwen. "I have got it here, but it's rather alarming—the responsibility."
"If it was written, as you say, over an effaced original, it might have been done just as easily in England." The doctor was reading the direction, not opening the letter.
"Not by a forger at the Antipodes!" said Gwen.
"I meant afterwards—when—when Mrs. Prichard was in England?"