“They had been addressed to him at Prangborough, and from there were forwarded to the prison. I find by reference to my official diary that three of them came from apparently the same correspondent and were posted at the same place--London in Canada; they were signed ‘Lucy.’ The fourth was from a man, evidently a captain in the merchant service, named Horace Lyman. It had been posted at Sunderland, and was received by me a short time before the expiration of the man’s term of imprisonment.” “That is the letter which would be of importance to us if it told us what is the present address of Captain Lyman,” said Jack. Major Crosbie shook his head. “You cannot expect a letter written nearly seven months ago to state positively what is the writer’s address to-day,” said he with a laugh. “But the contents of that letter made it clear that the writer and his correspondent were not on the best terms; and that the reason of this was the ill-treatment by Blaydon of the writer’s sister, whose name was Lucy.” “And the woman’s letters--did they make anything clear?” “The woman’s three letters made a good deal clear. The one of the earliest date suggested very clearly that she was the man’s wife.” “What, Blaydon’s wife!” cried Jack. “That would be the best possible news for us.” “So it occurred to me,” said Major Crosbie. “If the man had been married--as the letters suggested he was--some years before he came under my notice--under our notice, I should say--and if his wife was alive, as she must have been when those letters of hers were written, the curious case becomes a very simple case indeed.” “And the letters suggested marriage?” said Priscilla, interrogatively. “They undoubtedly suggested marriage--at least, they would have done so to someone with a smaller experience than I have had of such correspondence. But from what I know I should say that to assume that because a woman addresses a man as ‘My own husband,’ she is that man’s lawful wife, would be a very unwise thing to do. Such a form of address, I have learnt by experience, comes quite naturally to the woman who is not married to the man but who should be on the grounds of the most elementary morality. It is the form used by the woman who has been deserted by the man, but who hopes to get back to her former place in his affection. She seems to think, poor thing, that if she assumes the title of wife whenever she has the chance, she will in time come to feel that she is his wife. I am not sure if you recognize the--the--what shall I call it?--the naturalness of all this.” He glanced first at Jack and then at Priscilla, and paused as if for their acquiescence in his suggestion. They acquiesced. Jack nodded and muttered “Quite so.” Priscilla said: “I am sure it is natural--it is quite plausible. But it might be possible, might it not? to gather from the rest of the letters whether the woman was trying to bring back a husband or a lover.”