here twice a week, if you
like, and you had better do so, to accustom yourself to the sight of
my injuries. I told you in my first letter how and where they had
been inflicted--when you see them with your own eyes, you will be best
prepared to hear what my future purposes are, and how you can aid them.

"R. M."

This was evidently the letter about which I had been consulted by the
servant at North Villa; the date corresponded with the date of Mannion's
letter to me. I noticed that the envelope was missing, and asked Ralph
whether he had got it.

"No," he replied; "Sherwin dropped the letter just in the state in which
I have given it to you. I suspect the girl took away the envelope with
her, thinking that the letter which she left behind her was inside.
But the loss of the envelope doesn't matter. Look there: the fellow has
written her name at the bottom of the leaf; as coolly as if it was an
ordinary correspondence. She is identified with the letter, and that's
all we want in our future dealings with her father."

"But, Ralph, do you think--"

"Do I think her father will get her back? If he's in time to catch her
at the hospital, he assuredly will. If not, we shall have some little
trouble on our side, I suspect. This seems to me to be how the matter
stands now, Basil:--After that letter, and her running away, Sherwin
will have nothing for it but to hold his tongue about her innocence; we
may consider _him_ as settled and done with. As for the other rascal,
Mannion, he certainly writes as if he meant to do something dangerous.
If he really does attempt to annoy us, we will mark him again (I'll
do it next time, by way of a little change!); _he_ has no marriage
certificate to shake over our heads, at any rate. What's the matter
now?--you're looking pale again."

I _felt_ that my colour was changing, while he spoke. There was
something ominous in the contrast which, at that moment, I could not
fail to draw between Mannion's enmity, as Ralph ignorantly estimated it,
and as I really knew it. Already the first step towards the conspiracy
with which I was threatened, had been taken by the departure of
Sherwin's daughter from her father's house. Should I, at this earliest
warning of coming events, show my brother the letter I had received from
Mannion? No! such defence against the dangers threatened in it as Ralph
would be sure to counsel, and to put in practice, might only include
_him_ in the life-long persecution