erintendence
with my knowledge and approval, and whether the share taken in the
matter by Sir Percival Glyde was such as to merit the expression of my
gratitude towards that gentleman. Be pleased to accept my answer in
the affirmative to both those questions, and believe me to remain, your
obedient servant,

"JANE ANNE CATHERICK."

Short, sharp, and to the point; in form rather a business-like letter
for a woman to write--in substance as plain a confirmation as could be
desired of Sir Percival Glyde's statement. This was my opinion, and
with certain minor reservations, Miss Halcombe's opinion also. Sir
Percival, when the letter was shown to him, did not appear to be struck
by the sharp, short tone of it. He told us that Mrs. Catherick was a
woman of few words, a clear-headed, straightforward, unimaginative
person, who wrote briefly and plainly, just as she spoke.

The next duty to be accomplished, now that the answer had been
received, was to acquaint Miss Fairlie with Sir Percival's explanation.
Miss Halcombe had undertaken to do this, and had left the room to go to
her sister, when she suddenly returned again, and sat down by the
easy-chair in which I was reading the newspaper. Sir Percival had gone
out a minute before to look at the stables, and no one was in the room
but ourselves.

"I suppose we have really and truly done all we can?" she said, turning
and twisting Mrs. Catherick's letter in her hand.

"If we are friends of Sir Percival's, who know him and trust him, we
have done all, and more than all, that is necessary," I answered, a
little annoyed by this return of her hesitation. "But if we are
enemies who suspect him----"

"That alternative is not even to be thought of," she interposed. "We
are Sir Percival's friends, and if generosity and forbearance can add
to our regard for him, we ought to be Sir Percival's admirers as well.
You know that he saw Mr. Fairlie yesterday, and that he afterwards went
out with me."

"Yes. I saw you riding away together."

"We began the ride by talking about Anne Catherick, and about the
singular manner in which Mr. Hartright met with her. But we soon
dropped that subject, and Sir Percival spoke next, in the most
unselfish terms, of his engagement with Laura. He said he had observed
that she was out of spirits, and he was willing, if not informed to the
contrary, to attribute to that cause the alteration in her manner
towards him