……
“If you have read the letter you will know.”
“I did not say that I had read all the letter.”
“You quoted some of it.”
“I quoted the postscript. The letter had, as I said, beenburned and it was not all legible. I ask you once again why it wasthat you were so pressing that Sir Charles should destroy thisletter which he received on the day of his death.”
“The matter is a very private one.”
“The more reason why you should avoid a publicinvestigation.”
“I will tell you, then. If you have heard anything of myunhappy history you will know that I made a rash marriage and hadreason to regret it.”
“I have heard so much.”
“My life has been one incessant persecution from a husbandwhom I abhor. The law is upon his side, and every day I am faced bythe possibility that he may force me to live with him. At the timethat I wrote this letter to Sir Charles I had learned that therewas a prospect of my regaining my freedom if certain expenses couldbe met. It meant everything to me—peace of mind, happiness,self-respect—everything. I knew Sir Charles’s generosity, and Ithought that if he heard the story from my own lips he would helpme.”
“Then how is it that you did not go?”
……