for a while without candles, talking, till the evening had in
truth set in and the unmistakable and enforced idleness of remaining
without candles was apparent. During this time, Lily, demanding
patience of herself all the while, was thinking what she would do, or
rather what she would say, about the letter. That nothing would be
done or said in the presence of Grace Crawley was a matter of course,
nor would she do or say anything to get rid of Grace. She would
be very patient; but she would, at last, ask her mother about the
letter.

And then, as luck would have it, Grace Crawley got up and left the
room. Lily still waited for a few minutes, and, in order that her
patience might be thoroughly exercised, she said a word or two about
her sister Bell; how the eldest child's whooping-cough was nearly
well, and how the baby was doing wonderful things with its first
tooth. But as Mrs. Dale had already seen Bell's letter, all this was
not intensely interesting. At last Lily came to the point and asked
her question. "Mamma, from whom was that other letter which you got
this morning?"

Our story will perhaps be best told by communicating the letter to
the reader before it was discussed with Lily. The letter was as
follows:--

GENERAL COMMITTEE OFFICE,
-- January, 186--

I should have said that Mrs. Dale had not opened the letter till she
had found herself in the solitude of her own bedroom; and that then,
before doing so, she had examined the handwriting with anxious eyes.
When she first received it she thought she knew the writer, but was
not sure. Then she had glanced at the impression over the fastening,
and had known at once from whom the letter had come. It was from Mr
Crosbie, the man who had brought so much trouble into her house, who
had jilted her daughter; the only man in the world whom she had a
right to regard as a positive enemy to herself. She had no doubt
about it, as she tore the envelope open; and yet, when the address
given made her quite sure, a new feeling of shivering came upon her,
and she asked herself whether it might not be better that she should
send his letter back to him without reading it. But she read it.

MADAM [the letter began],--

You will be very much surprised to hear from me, and I
am quite aware that I am not entitled to the ordinary
courtesy of an acknowledgement from you, should you be
pleased to throw my letter on one side as unworthy of your
noti