nd loving
woman, if he could; so he gave her something to do for her husband.
"Very well; collect all the materials of comparison you can--letters,
receipts, etc. Meantime I will retain the two principal experts in
London, and we will submit your materials to them the night before the
trial."

Lady Bassett, thus instructed, drove to all the banks, but found no
clerk acquainted with Mr. Bassett's handwriting. He did not bank with
anybody in the county.

She called on several persons she thought likely to possess letters or
other writings of Richard Bassett. Not a scrap.

Then she began to fear. The case looked desperate.

Then she began to think. And she thought very hard indeed, especially
at night.

In the dead of night she had an idea. She got up, and stole from her
husband's side, and studied the anonymous letter.

Next day she sat down with the anonymous letter on her desk, and
blushed, and trembled, and looked about like some wild animal scared.
She selected from the anonymous letter several words--"character,
abused, Sir, Charles, Bassett, lady, abandoned, friend, whether, ten,
slanderer" etc.--and wrote them on a slip of paper. Then she locked up
the anonymous letter. Then she locked the door. Then she sat down to a
sheet of paper, and, after some more wild and furtive glances all
around, she gave her whole mind to writing a letter.

And to whom did she write, think you?

To Richard Bassett.

CHAPTER XI.

"MR. BASSETT--I am sure both yourself and my husband will suffer in
public estimation, unless some friend comes between you, and this
unhappy lawsuit is given up.

"Do not think me blind nor presumptuous; Sir Charles, when he wrote
that letter, had reason to believe you had done him a deep injury by
unfair means. Many will share that opinion if this cause is tried. You
are his cousin, and his heir at law. I dread to see an unhappy feud
inflamed by a public trial. Is there no personal sacrifice by which I
can compensate the affront you have received, without compromising Sir
Charles Bassett's veracity, who is the soul of honor?

"I am, yours obediently,

"BELLA BASSETT."

She posted this letter, and Richard Bassett had no sooner received it
than he mounted his horse and rode to Wheeler's with it.

That worthy's eyes sparkled. "Capital!" said he. "We must draw her on,
and write an answer that will read well in court."

He concocted an epistle just the opposite of what Richard Basset