t isn't painful to me--oh! anything but painful!"

They sat down. Piers was holding a large envelope, bulgy with its
contents, whatever they were, and sealed; his eyes rested upon it.

"I have to speak of something which at first will sound unwelcome to
you; but it is only the preface to what will make you very glad. It is
about my brother. I have seen him two or three times this last week on
a particular business, in which at length I have succeeded. Here," he
touched the envelope, "are all the letters he possessed in your
mother's writing."

Olga looked at him in distressful wonder and suspense.

"Not one of them," he pursued, "contains a line that you should not
read. They prove absolutely, beyond shadow of doubt, that the charge
brought against your mother was false. The dates cover nearly five
years--from a simple note of invitation to Ewell--you remember--down to
a letter written about three weeks ago. Of course I was obliged to read
them through; I knew to begin with what I should find. Now I give them
to you. Let Dr. Derwent see them. If any doubt remains in his mind,
they will make an end of it."

He put the packet into Olga's hands. She, overcome for the moment by
her feelings, looked from it to him, at a loss for words. She was
struck with a change in Otway. That he should speak in a grave tone,
with an air of sadness, was only natural; but the change went beyond
this; he had not his wonted decision in utterance; he paused between
sentences, his eyes wandering dreamily; one would have taken him for an
older man than he was wont to appear, and of less energy. Thus might he
have looked and spoken after some great effort, which left him wearied,
almost languid, incapable of strong emotion.

"Why didn't he show these letters before?" she asked, turning over the
sealed envelope.

"He had no wish to do so," answered Piers, in an undertone.

"You mean that he would have let anything happen--which he could have
prevented?"

"I'm afraid he would."

"But he offered them now?"

"No--or rather yes, he offered them," Piers smiled bitterly. "Not
however, out of wish to do justice."

Olga could not understand. She gazed at him wistfully.

"I bought them," said Piers. "It made the last proof of his baseness."

"You gave money for them? And just that you might give them to me?"

"Wouldn't you have done the same, to clear the memory of someone you
loved?"

Olga laid the packet aside; then, with a quick move