lity he had
followed her there, in his officious way, to relieve her mind about the
matter of the signature, immediately after he had mentioned the change
in Sir Percival's plans to me in the drawing-room. In this case he
could only have got to the neighbourhood of the boat-house at the very
moment when Anne Catherick discovered him. The suspiciously hurried
manner in which she parted from Laura had no doubt prompted his useless
attempt to follow her. Of the conversation which had previously taken
place between them he could have heard nothing. The distance between
the house and the lake, and the time at which he left me in the
drawing-room, as compared with the time at which Laura and Anne
Catherick had been speaking together, proved that fact to us at any
rate, beyond a doubt.

Having arrived at something like a conclusion so far, my next great
interest was to know what discoveries Sir Percival had made after Count
Fosco had given him his information.

"How came you to lose possession of the letter?" I asked. "What did
you do with it when you found it in the sand?"

"After reading it once through," she replied, "I took it into the
boat-house with me to sit down and look over it a second time. While I
was reading a shadow fell across the paper. I looked up, and saw Sir
Percival standing in the doorway watching me."

"Did you try to hide the letter?"

"I tried, but he stopped me. 'You needn't trouble to hide that,' he
said. 'I happen to have read it.' I could only look at him
helplessly--I could say nothing. 'You understand?' he went on; 'I have
read it. I dug it up out of the sand two hours since, and buried it
again, and wrote the word above it again, and left it ready to your
hands. You can't lie yourself out of the scrape now. You saw Anne
Catherick in secret yesterday, and you have got her letter in your hand
at this moment. I have not caught HER yet, but I have caught YOU.
Give me the letter.' He stepped close up to me--I was alone with him,
Marian--what could I do?--I gave him the letter."

"What did he say when you gave it to him?"

"At first he said nothing. He took me by the arm, and led me out of
the boat-house, and looked about him on all sides, as if he was afraid
of our being seen or heard. Then he clasped his hand fast round my
arm, and whispered to me, 'What did Anne Catherick say to you
yesterday? I insist on hearing every word, from first to last.'"

"Did you tell him?"

"I w