"Yes, on my representation, that if they substantiated her charges, she would be doing you the greatest kindness in her power." Stanley bowed, and opened the little packet. For a few moments there was silence in the room, broken only by the occasional crackle of paper, as he turned a page. Most of the dozen or so documents he read through quickly, and laid upon the table at his side. A couple he re-read several times. Finally he looked up, saying simply:-- "You've read these letters?" "Yes. I was given permission to do so." "What do you think of them?" "Two of them are suggestive." "The two most recent?" "Yes, they bear dates, you will observe, within the last three days." "And the others----?" "The others merely show the existence of some relationship between Colonel Darcy and Miss Fitzgerald, which they wished kept secret. I don't remember the exact wording. There's a letter which she writes from London to him at his home, begging him to come to town and 'leave his tiresome wife,' as they have 'matters of more importance' to attend to; and again she writes that she cannot meet him at 5 P. M., 'because she must account for her time to her "dragon,"'--alluding, I infer, to her aunt--but that he must manage to 'meet her accidentally and take her down to supper' at a party she is attending that night, 'so as not to arouse suspicion.'" "All this proves nothing." "Perhaps not--but the extracts are significant. Now take the two most recent." "They were written from here. How were they obtained?" "That doesn't concern us if they are genuine." "One is certainly in Miss Fitzgerald's hand." "The other was evidently torn from Darcy's letter-book. Read it." Stanley did so, with evident effort. "DEAREST BELLE: "I did not know, till after I had seen you the other night----" "The night you proposed," interjected Kent-Lauriston. The Secretary nodded, and resumed his reading. "--the other night, how cleverly you got my letter out of the Secretary's clutches. It quite retrieves your losing it at the Hyde Park Club, and now I have lost it under the secret door in the Hall, as you will probably have heard. If A. R. cannot get a duplicate, which is doubtful, the door must be opened. "I have entrusted you with all I hold most dear. You know what that is. If my plans go well, it will mean a happy future for us both. "Your affectionate old "BOB." "Now read the other," commanded Kent-Lauriston; and, sick at heart, the Secretary complied: "YOU OLD STUPID: "Is the report really true that you have lost that letter under the secret door? There is no time to duplicate it, so it must be recovered. Why didn't you write and tell me you had lost it?----" "But he did," commented the reader. "Both letters were intercepted before delivery, I imagine," said Kent-Lauriston, "but finish the note."