The words were brave, but
the accent piteous.
"You are excited, Bella. You had better ride home," said Sir Charles,
gently enough, but moodily.
"Thank you, Charles," said Bella, glad to escape further examination
about this mysterious lady. She rode home accordingly. There she found
Mr. Oldfield, and showed him the anonymous letter.
He read it, and said it was a defense, but a disagreeable one. "Suppose
he says he wrote it, and the facts were true?"
"But I don't think he will confess it. He is not a gentleman. He is
very untruthful. Can we not make this a trap to catch him, sir? _He_
has no scruples."
Oldfield looked at her in some surprise at her depth.
"We must get hold of his handwriting," said he. "We must ransack the
local banks; find his correspondents."
"Leave all that to me," said Lady Bassett, in a low voice.
Mr. Oldfield thought he might as well please a beautiful and loving
woman, if he could; so he gave her something to do for her husband.
"Very well; collect all the materials of comparison you can--letters,
receipts, etc. Meantime I will retain the two principal experts in
London, and we will submit your materials to them the night before the
trial."
Lady Bassett, thus instructed, drove to all the banks, but found no
clerk acquainted with Mr.
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