bring
it home to her? At present we have no clue beyond the specialist's
opinion that the writer is a foreigner."

"No, and it's going to be a hard nut to crack," said Anstice
thoughtfully. "But it shall be cracked all the same. What do you say to
taking Mrs. Carstairs into our confidence, Sir Richard? Of course the
idea will be a shock to her at first; but if the matter could be cleared
up, think what a difference it would make to her!"

"Yes, indeed!" Sir Richard agreed heartily. "And to her husband as well.
You know, Major Carstairs is a man with a rather peculiar code of
honour; and you must not run away with the idea that because he refuses
to believe in his wife's innocence he is necessarily a narrow-minded
or--or callous person."

"I don't," said Anstice quickly. "By the way I've not told you all that
happened the day I was in town. By a curious coincidence I met Major
Carstairs----"

"What, is he in England again?"

"Yes." Anstice related the particulars of the meeting between them, and
repeated, so far as he could remember it, the substance of the
subsequent conversation in the club. "So you see, Sir Richard, Major
Carstairs is not only ready, but longing, to be convinced of his wife's
innocence in the matter."

"Good! That's capital!" Sir Richard beamed. "If once Chloe can be led to
understand that her husband will believe in her one day she will be
ready to help us to prove her innocence. You know I have sometimes
thought that if she had taken up a rather more human, more feminine
attitude, had relinquished the pride which forbade her to protest loudly
against the injustice which was done her, she might have been better off
in the end. It is very hard fighting for a woman who won't fight for
herself; and that idea of hers that if her own personal character were
not enough to prove her blameless of so vile a charge nothing else was
worth trying--well, it was the attitude of conscious innocence, no
doubt, but it was certainly above the heads of a conscientious, but
particularly unintelligent jury!"

He put down the stump of his cigar, which unlike Anstice he had smoked
to the end, and looked at the other man with a kindly eye.

"Look here, Anstice, why shouldn't we go--you and I--to visit Mrs.
Carstairs now?"

"Now?" Anstice was somewhat taken aback at the proposal.

"Yes. Why not? There's no time like the present. It is barely six
o'clock, and she will certainly be at home."

"But--won't she be