The moment Sir Harry had left the house, Audrey sat down to write the following letter:-- “Dear Mr. Candover, “Will you please convey to your secretary, Mr. Durley Diggs, my refusal to allow him to come here again? It is of no use for him to ask my reasons; he must be satisfied with my decision. “Yours faithfully, “Audrey Angmering.” She signed her own name out of bravado, to show Mr. Candover how strong was her determination to drop the title he had chosen for her without delay. On the following afternoon, when she had suffered considerable trepidation at her own daring, and had watched the post, expecting a letter full of indignation, she was informed that Mr. Candover and Mr. Diggs were in the drawing-room. Audrey went down to meet them with a bold front but in a state of nervous excitement and apprehension impossible to describe. Both gentlemen were standing when she entered the room. Mr. Candover was looking grave and dignified; Durley Diggs, though he put his hands in his pockets and tried to assume an air of easy indifference, looked paler than ever. “I got your letter,” said Mr. Candover, “and I thought it only fair to read it to Diggs, who is, as you know, a friend and confidential employee of some years’ standing. I think you will acknowledge it to be only right to let him know in what way he has merited such a curt dismissal on your part.” Audrey, with her heart beating very fast, stood firm. She did not ask them to be seated, but remained leaning against a high-backed carved chair, and kept very still. “What you ask is quite reasonable,” she said, looking steadily at Mr. Candover only, “but still I am afraid Mr. Diggs must be satisfied with what I have said. I don’t wish him to come here again.” “You will at least tell me who it was that influenced you to come to this rather abrupt decision?” “No, I refuse to do that.” “And if he should treat this as an injury necessitating the interference of the law?” went on Mr. Candover. But Audrey, frightened as she was, miserable as she was, knew better than to think Mr. Diggs would take such a step as that. She threw at the secretary a look of disdain and answered steadily:-- “He can do whatever he likes.” Then for the first time Diggs spoke. Darting across the room, and planting himself before her, he thrust his hands deeper into the pockets of his lounge coat and said impudently:-- “Come now, what have I done?” And Audrey, summoning her spirit, replied at once:-- “You have cheated at cards.” This accusation, evidently unexpected by one at least of her hearers, for a moment struck them both dumb. It was Mr. Candover who recovered himself the first. “Cheated at cards!” he repeated incredulously. “Madame, do you know the importance of such an accusation?”