e of
countenance, without even a frown on his brow, for a quarter of an
hour; and at the end of that time he got up and shook himself. It was
not true. Whatever might be the explanation, it could not be true.
There was some foul plot against his happiness; but whatever the
nature of the plot might be, he was sure that the story as told to
him in that letter was not true. And yet it was with a very heavy
heart that he rose and walked off to his wife's room.

The letter ran as follows:--

MY DEAR MR. WESTERN,--I think it is necessary that I
should allude to a former little incident in my past
life,--one that took place in the course of the last year
only,--to account for the visit which I made to your
house the other day, and which was not, I think, very
well taken. I have no reason to doubt but that you are
acquainted with all the circumstances. Indeed I look upon
it as impossible that you should not be so. But, taking
that for granted, I have to explain my own conduct.

It seems but the other day that Cecilia Holt and I were
engaged to be married.

Mr. Western, when he came to this passage, felt for a moment as
though he had received a bullet in his heart.

All Exeter knew of the engagement, and all Exeter seemed
to be well pleased. I was staying with my brother-in-law,
the Dean, and had found Miss Holt very intimate at the
Deanery. It is not for me now to explain the way in which
our engagement was broken through, but your wife, I do
not doubt, in telling you of the affair, will have stated
that she did not consider herself to have been ill-used.
I am quite certain that she can never have said so even
to yourself. I do not wish to go into the matter in all
its details, but I am confident that she cannot have
complained of me.

Under these circumstances, when I found myself living
close to you, and to her also, I thought it better to call
and to offer such courtesies as are generally held to be
pleasant in a neighbourhood. It would, I thought, be much
pleasanter to meet in that frank way than to go on cutting
each other, especially as there was no ground for a
quarrel on either side. I have, however, learned since
that something has been taken amiss. What is it? If it
be that I was before you, that is too late to be mended.
You, at any rate, have won the prize, and ought to be
contented. You also were eng