In silence on his part, Moody laid an open sheet of paper on the table. The paper quivered in his trembling hand.
Lady Lydiard recovered herself first. "Is that for me?" she asked. "Yes, my Lady."She took up the paper without an instant's hesitation. Both the men watched her anxiously as she read it.
The handwriting was strange to her. The words were these:--"I hereby certify that the bearer of these lines, Robert Moody by name, has presented to me the letter with which he was charged, addressed to myself, with the seal intact. I regret to add that there is, to say the least of it, some mistake. The inclosure referred to by the anonymous writer of the letter, who signs 'a friend in need,' has not reached me. No five-hundred pound bank-note was in the letter when I opened it. My wife was present when I broke the seal, and can certify to this statement if necessary. Not knowing who my charitable correspondent is (Mr. Moody being forbidden to give me any information), I can only take this means of stating the case exactly as it stands, and hold myself at the disposal of the writer of the letter. My private address is at the head of the page. --Samuel Bradstock, Rector, St. Anne's, Deansbury, London."Lady Lydiard dropped the paper on the table. For the moment, plainly as the Rector's statement was expressed, she appeared to be incapable of understanding it. "What, in God's name, does this mean?" she asked.
The lawyer and the steward looked at each other. Which of the two was entitled to speak first? Lady Lydiard gave them no time to decide. "Moody," she said sternly, "you took charge of the letter--I look to you foran explanation."
Moody's dark eyes flashed. He answered Lady Lydiard without caring to conceal that he resented the tone in which she had spoken to him.
"I undertook to deliver the letter at its address," he said. "I found it, sealed, on the table. Your Ladyship has the clergyman's written testimony that I handed it to him with the seal unbroken. I have done my duty; and I have no explanation to offer."Before Lady Lydiard could speak again, Mr. Troy discreetly interfered. He saw plainly that his experience was required to lead the investigation in the right direction.
"Pardon me, my Lady," he said, with that happy mixture of the positive and the polite in his manner, of which lawyers alone possess the secret. "There is only one way of arriving at the truth in painful matters of this sort. We must begin at the beginning. May I venture to ask your Ladyship a question?"Lady Lydiard felt the composing influence of Mr. Troy. "I am at your disposal, sir," she said, quietly.
"Are you absolutely certain that you inclosed the bank-note in the letter?" the lawyer asked.
"I certainly believe I inclosed it" Lady Lydiard answered. "But I was so alarmed at the time by the sudden illness of my dog, that I do not feel justified in speaking positively.""Was anybody in the room with your Ladyship when you put the inclosure in the letter--as you believe?""_I_ was in the room," said Moody. "I can swear that I saw her Ladyship put the bank-note in the letter, and the letter in the envelope.""And seal the envelope?" asked Mr. Troy.
"No, sir. Her Ladyship was called away into the next room to the dog, before she could seal the envelope." Mr. Troy addressed himself once more to Lady Lydiard. "Did your Ladyship take the letter into the next room with you?""I was too much alarmed to think of it, Mr. Troy. I left it here, on the table.""With the envelope open?" "Yes."
"How long were you absent in the other room?" "Half an hour or more.""Ha!" said Mr. Troy to himself. "This complicates it a little." He reflected for a while, and then turned again to Moody. "Did any of the servants know of this bank-note being in her Ladyship's possession?""Not one of them," Moody answered. "Do you suspect any of the servants?" "Certainly not, sir.""Are there any workmen employed in the house?" "No, sir.""Do you know of any persons who had access to the room while Lady Lydiard was absent from it?""Two visitors called, sir." "Who were they?""Her Ladyship's nephew, Mr. Felix Sweetsir, and the Honorable Alfred Hardyman."Mr. Troy shook his head irritably. "I am not speaking of gentlemen of high position and repute," he said. "It's absurd even to mention Mr. Sweetsir and Mr. Hardyman. My question related to strangers who might have obtained access to the drawing-room--people calling, with her Ladyship's sanction, for subscriptions, for instance; or people calling with articles of dress or ornament to be submitted to her Ladyship's inspection."""No such persons came to the house with my knowledge," Moody answered.
Mr. Troy suspended the investigation, and took a turn thoughtfully in the room. The theory on which his inquiries had proceeded thus far had failed to produce any results. His experience warned him to waste no more time on it, and to return to the starting-point of the investigation--in other words, to the letter. Shifting his point of view, he turned again to Lady Lydiard, and tried his questions in a new direction.