"I found the enclosed on my arrival at the Bank this morning. It may be important, so I send it on at once. "And let me take this opportunity, dear Madam, of assuring you of my very sincere sympathy. I, too, have known during the last few days what it was to feel that hope deferred maketh the heart sick. "Yours respectfully, "DAVID PRIVET." She turned, with only languid interest, to the envelope. The address was typewritten:-- MRS. G. PAVELY, c/o MESSRS. PAVELY & CO., BANKERS, PEWSBURY. It was marked "Private," "Immediate," but that, as Laura well knew, meant very little. A certain number of times, perhaps half a dozen times in all, during her married life, some unfortunate, humble client of her husband's had written to her a personal appeal. Each of these letters had been of a painful and disagreeable nature, often couched in pitiful, eloquent terms, and Godfrey had not allowed her to answer any one of them save in the most formal, cold way. This typewritten envelope looked as if it might have come from some distressed tradesman. So she opened the envelope reluctantly, not taking heed, as a different type of woman would have done, to the postmark on it. Indeed, without thinking of what she was doing, she threw the envelope mechanically into the burning fire, and then opened out the large sheet of thin paper. But, as she looked down at the lines of typewriting, she stiffened into instant, palpitating, horrified attention, for this is what she saw there: "MADAME,--It is with the deepest regret that I acquaint you with the fact that your esteemed husband, Mr. Godfrey Pavely, of Messrs. Pavely & Co., Bankers, of Pewsbury, Wiltshire, is dead. "If you will instruct the police to go to Duke House, Piccadilly, and proceed to Room 18 on the top floor--the only office which is at present let--they will find there Mr. Pavely's body. "I am connected with important business interests in Portugal, and for some time I have been in business relations with Mr. Pavely. This fact you will easily confirm by searching among his papers. I am also, of course, well known at Duke House, for I have had an office there for a considerable number of weeks. "The tragedy--for a tragedy it is from my point of view as well as from that of Mr. Pavely's unfortunate family--fell out in this wise. "Mr. Pavely came to see me (by appointment) on the Thursday before last. There was a pistol lying on my desk. I foolishly took it up and began playing with it. I was standing just behind Mr. Pavely when suddenly the trigger went off, and to my intense horror the unfortunate man received the charge. I thought--I hoped--that he was only wounded, but all too soon I saw that he was undoubtedly dead--dead by my hand.