Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
“The information which I have obtained from Miss Jethro has been
communicated to me, on the condition that I shall not disclose the
place of her residence. ‘Let me pass out of notice (she said) as
completely as if I had passed out of life; I wish to be forgotten by
some, and to be unknown by others.’” With this one stipulation, she
left me free to write the present narrative of what passed at the
interview between us. I feel that the discoveries which I have made are
too important to the persons interested to be trusted to memory.
1. _She Receives Me_.
“Finding Miss Jethro’s place of abode, with far less difficulty than I
had anticipated (thanks to favoring circumstances), I stated plainly
the object of my visit. She declined to enter into conversation with me
on the subject of the murder at Zeeland.
“I was prepared to meet with this rebuke, and to take the necessary
measures for obtaining a more satisfactory reception. ‘A person is
suspected of having committed the murder,’ I said; ‘and there is reason
to believe that you are in a position to say whether the suspicion is
justified or not. Do you refuse to answer me, if I put the question?’
“Miss Jethro asked who the person was.
“I mentioned the name--Mr. Miles Mirabel.
“It is not necessary, and it would certainly be not agreeable to me,
to describe the effect which this reply produced on Miss Jethro. After
giving her time to compose herself, I entered into certain explanations,
in order to convince her at the outset of my good faith. The result
justified my anticipations. I was at once admitted to her confidence.
“She said, ‘I must not hesitate to do an act of justice to an innocent
man. But, in such a serious matter as this, you have a right to judge
for yourself whether the person who is now speaking to you is a person
whom you can trust. You may believe that I tell the truth about others,
if I begin--whatever it may cost me--by telling the truth about
myself.’”
2. _She Speaks of Herself_.
“I shall not attempt to place on record the confession of a most unhappy
woman. It was the common story of sin bitterly repented, and of vain
effort to recover the lost place in social esteem. Too well known a
story, surely, to be told again.
“But I may with perfect propriety repeat what Miss Jethro said to me,
in allusion to later events in her life which are connected with my own
personal experience. She recalled to my memory a visit which she had
paid to me at Netherwoods, and a letter addressed to her by Doctor
Allday, which I had read at her express request.
“She said, ‘You may remember that the letter contained some severe
reflections on my conduct. Among other things, the doctor mentions that
he called at the lodging I occupied during my visit to London, and found
I had taken to flight: also that he had reason to believe I had entered
Miss Ladd’s service, under false pretenses.’
“I asked if the doctor had wronged her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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