Kennedy
himself, intended for publication, and which was already
printed, giving an elaborate and, I may say, a most
cruelly untrue account of your quarrel. I read the letter,
but of course cannot remember the words. Nor if I could
remember them should I repeat them. They contained all the
old charges with which you are familiar, and which your
unfortunate husband now desired to publish in consummation
of his threats. Why Mr. Slide should have brought me the
paper before publishing it I can hardly understand. But he
did so;--and told me that Mr. Kennedy was in town. We have
managed among us to obtain a legal warrant for preventing
the publication of the letter, and I think I may say that
it will not see the light.

When Mr. Slide left me I called on Mr. Kennedy, whom I
found in a miserable little hotel, in Judd Street, kept
by Scotch people named Macpherson. They had come from the
neighbourhood of Loughlinter, and knew Mr. Kennedy well.
This was yesterday afternoon, Sunday, and I found some
difficulty in making my way into his presence. My object
was to induce him to withdraw the letter;--for at that
time I doubted whether the law could interfere quickly
enough to prevent the publication.

I found your husband in a very sad condition. What he said
or what I said I forget; but he was as usual intensely
anxious that you should return to him. I need not hesitate
now to say that he is certainly mad. After a while, when I
expressed my assured opinion that you would not go back to
Loughlinter, he suddenly turned round, grasped a revolver,
and fired at my head. How I got out of the room I don't
quite remember. Had he repeated the shot, which he might
have done over and over again, he must have hit me. As
it was I escaped, and blundered down the stairs to Mrs.
Macpherson's room.

They whom I have consulted in the matter, namely,
Barrington Erle and my particular friend, Mr. Low,--to
whom I went for legal assistance in stopping the
publication,--seem to think that I should have at once
sent for the police, and given Mr. Kennedy in charge. But
I did not do so, and hitherto the police have, I believe,
no knowledge of what occurred. A paragraph appeared in one
of the morning papers to-day, giving almost an accurate
account of the matter, but mentioning neither the place
nor any of the names. No d