"No, dear Mrs. Morley, she has always received the greatest kindness
both from you and your husband. She is not herself to-day--that cruel
letter has upset her. In a short time she will repent of her behavior."

"If she speaks like this to Mrs. Parry, what will happen?" moaned the
poor woman, wringing her hands.

"I'll have Mrs. Parry in court for libel if she says anything against
us," said Morley fiercely. "The girl is an hysterical idiot. To accuse
her best friends of--pshaw! it's not worth taking notice of. But this
letter, Miss Denham?"

"I know nothing about it, Mr. Morley."

"Humph! I wonder if Daisy wrote it herself."

"Oliver!" cried Mrs. Morley in amazement.

"Why not? Hysterical girls do queer things at times. I don't suppose
Mrs. Parry wrote it, old scandal-monger as she is. It is a strange
letter. That Scarlet Cross, for instance." He fixed an inquiring eye on
Anne.

"That is the one thing that makes me think Daisy did not write the
letter. I fancied myself she might have done it in a moment of hysteria
and out of hatred of me, but she could not know anything of the Scarlet
Cross. No one in Rickwell could know of that."

"The letter was posted in London--in the General Post Office."

"But why should any one write such a letter about me," said Anne,
raising her hands to her forehead, "and the Scarlet Cross? It is very
strange."

"What is the Scarlet Cross?" asked Mrs. Morley seriously.

"I know no more than you do," replied Anne earnestly, "save that my
father sometimes received letters marked with a red cross and on his
watch-chain wore a gold cross enamelled with scarlet."

"Did your father know what the cross meant?" asked Mrs. Morley.

"He must have known, but he never explained the matter to me."

"Perhaps if you asked him now to----"

"My father is dead," she said in a low voice; "he died a year ago in
Italy."

"Then this mystery must remain a mystery," said Morley, with a shrug.
"Upon my word, I don't like all this. What is to be done?"

"Put the letter into the hands of the police," suggested his wife.

"No," said Morley decisively; "if the police heard the ravings of Daisy,
Heaven knows what they would think."

"But, my dear, it is ridiculous," said Mrs. Morley indignantly. "We have
always treated Daisy like one of ourselves. We have nothing to conceal.
I am very angry at her."

"You should rather pity her," said Anne gently, "for she is a prey to
nerves. However, the best t