u will see what I mean. I shall obey its instructions, and
shall post this letter with my own hands. So far I have
given my letters to my maid, and I cannot think of any
reason which could induce her to be wicked enough to destroy
or suppress them. This, at least, will be sure to reach you,
and if my fancy is absurd, I know you well enough to trust
to your forgiveness. If you are not 'John of Itzia,' I can
only fear that something dreadful has happened, for I do not
believe that you could be so unkind as to leave eight
consecutive letters of mine unanswered by a single word. I
have only just seen the advertisement by chance, and if you
are at home when this arrives it ought to reach you at about
nine o'clock. It is very little over an hour's drive to
Richmond, and I beg you to come down at once. If the whole
thing is a mistake, you have still something to explain, and
must have, I am sure a great deal to tell me.

"Yours always,

"Violet."

I had no sooner read this than, with the letter crumpled in my hand, I
dashed into the street and made at full-speed for the nearest cab-stand.
Half a dozen whips were waved at me at once, but I walked up and down
the line inspecting the horses before I would choose a vehicle. A
sorrier lot of screws I never saw, but I chose the one that looked the
least unpromising, and gave the driver the word for Richmond.

CHAPTER XVIII

Overjoyed as I was at the receipt of Violet's letter, and at the
prospect of seeing her again, I had not been many minutes on my way
before I began to feel embarrassed at the prospect of the unavoidable
explanation which lay before me. I felt malevolently disposed towards
the ridiculous old lady who was the cause of all this needless trouble,
but I soon forgot her in the contemplation of the difficulty she had
created. It was a painful and difficult thing even to mention to Violet
such a charge as that against which I had to defend myself, and as the
vehicle bumped along I threw myself back in the seat and gave up my
whole mind to the attempt to approach it delicately, and in the way
which would make it least offensive and painful to her ears.

I have said that the hacks on the cab-stand were a sorry lot, and
though I had chosen the brute which looked most promising in the whole
contingent, I was not long in finding that I had no special reason to be
proud of my cho