andwriting in the letter being strange to him, Mat looked first for
the name at the end, and found that it was _Thorpe._ "Wait a bit," he
said, as Zack spoke again just then, "I want to read my letter. We'll
talk after."

This is what he read:--

"Some hours have passed since you left my house. I have had time
to collect a little strength and composure, and have received such
assistance and advice as have enabled me to profit by that time. Now I
know that I can write calmly, I send you this letter.

"My object is not to ask how you became possessed of the guilty secret
which I had kept from every one--even from my wife--but to offer you
such explanation and confession as you have a right to demand from me.
I do not cavil about that right--I admit that you possess it, without
desiring further proof than your actions, your merciless words, and the
Bracelet in your possession, have afforded me.

"It is fit you should first be told that the assumed name by which I
was known at Dibbledean, merely originated in a foolish jest--in a wager
that certain companions of my own age, who were accustomed to ridicule
my fondness for botanical pursuits, and often to follow and disturb me
when I went in search of botanical specimens, would not be able to trace
and discover me in my country retreat. I went to Dibbledean, because the
neighborhood was famous for specimens of rare Ferns, which I desired to
possess; and I took my assumed name before I went, to help in keeping me
from being traced and disturbed by my companions. My father alone was in
the secret, and came to see me once or twice in my retirement. I have no
excuse to offer for continuing to preserve my false name, at a time when
I was bound to be candid about myself and my station in life. My conduct
was as unpardonably criminal in this, as it was in greater things.

"My stay at the cottage I had taken, lasted much longer than my father
would have remitted, if I had not deceived him, and if he had not been
much harassed at that time by unforeseen difficulties in his business as
a foreign merchant. These difficulties arrived at last at a climax, and
his health broke down under them. His presence, or the presence of a
properly qualified person to represent him, was absolutely required in
Germany, where one of his business houses, conducted by an agent, was
established. I was his only son; he had taken me as a partner into his
London house; and had allowed me, on the plea of d