"If you have, they will, I know, be regarded by you as evidence that Dudley was a forger." "That is what I believe him to have been," I said with bitterness. "You judge him wrongly," she replied quite calmly, her face nevertheless as white as the simple-made dinner gown she wore. "I have already seen those papers, and know their authorship." "Did not Dudley trace my writing?" "He never did," she replied. "As his death was encompassed by his enemies, so is dishonour cast upon his memory." "Then you allege that he was the victim of conspiracy!" I exclaimed, surprised. "No doubt. When I am at last free to speak I shall prove it, and by so doing remove from myself the suspicion now resting upon me." She spoke earnestly, with an intense ring in her voice that told me she now uttered the truth. "For what reason was it desired to imitate my handwriting?" I asked, pressing her hand tenderly. "Come, tell me, Ella." "I really don't know," she replied. "All I am aware is that your writing was most carefully traced and imitated, and for that purpose two of your letters to me were stolen." "By whom?" "I have never been able to discover." At that moment our conversation was interrupted by a voice crying, "Here, Deedes! Have you seen this alarming news?" and turning I saw Beck standing beside the tall, amber-shaded lamp in the drawing-room, a pale pink news-sheet in his hand. Rising quickly I re-entered the room, and walking over to him, followed by Ella, took the newspaper, and devoured the dozen lines of leaded type placed beneath the bold, alarming head-lines. My well-beloved was peering over my shoulder as, in breathless eagerness, I read that, according to Reuter's correspondent at St Petersburg, the _Novoe Vremya_ had that afternoon issued a special edition containing the amazing statement that Russia would, in the course of a few hours, formally declare war against England, and that this fact was corroborated by the issue of telegraphic orders to the commanders of military districts as a preliminary to a general mobilisation of the forces. This announcement was similar to that of our secret agent in St Petersburg, with the additional facts that the greatest activity had commenced in the War Office and Admiralty, and that the Tzar had, in consequence, abandoned his visit to Odessa, which he was about to undertake that day. "The outlook is certainly most alarming," I observed, handing on the paper to Ella. "It's extraordinary!" cried Beck, intensely excited, as became a patriotic legislator. "We have not had the slightest inkling of any diplomatic deadlock, or any disagreement with Russia. The whole thing is absolutely amazing." "But what will happen?" asked Ella, eagerly, with white, scared face. "Will England be invaded and battles fought here in the manner prophetic writers have foretold?"