? ? ? ? Mrs. Lyons flushed with anger again.
? ? ? ? "Really, sir, this is a very extraordinary question."
? ? ? ? "I am sorry, madam, but I must repeat it."
? ? ? ? "Then I answer, certainly not."
? ? ? ? "Not on the very day of Sir Charles's death?"
? ? ? ? The flush had faded in an instant, and a deathly face was before me. Her dry lips could not speak the "No" which I saw rather than heard.
? ? ? ? "Surely your memory deceives you," said I. "I could even quote a passage of your letter. It ran 'Please, please, as you are a gentleman, burn this letter, and be at the gate by ten o'clock.' "
? ? ? ? I thought that she had fainted, but she recovered herself by a supreme effort.
? ? ? ? "Is there no such thing as a gentleman?" she gasped.
? ? ? ? "You do Sir Charles an injustice. He did burn the letter. But sometimes a letter may be legible even when burned. You acknowledge now that you wrote it?"
? ? ? ? "Yes, I did write it," she cried, pouring out her soul in a torrent of words. "I did write it. Why should I deny it? I have no reason to be ashamed of it. I wished him to help me. I believed that if I had an interview I could gain his help, so I asked him to meet me.
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