would be seriously compromised if I had to call in the police, and asked
why she had at first denied writing the letter and why she had requested
Sir Charles to burn it. She did not want a scandal, she said; it was a
very private matter. But at last she told.
She had made a rash marriage. Her life had been one incessant persecution
from a husband she abhorred. The law was on his side, and every day she was
faced with the possibility that he might force her to live with him. At the
time she wrote the letter to Sir Charles, she had learned there was a
prospect of her regaining her freedom if certain expenses could be met. It
meant everything to her - peace of mind, happiness, self-respect. She knew
Sir Charles's generosity, and she thought that if he heard the story from
her own lips he would help her.
"Then how is it you did not go?" I asked.
