tion a secret, and was
always careful to speak of Laura as "the late Lady Glyde."

Mrs. Vesey's answer to my inquiries only confirmed the apprehensions
which I had previously felt. Laura had certainly written to say she
would pass the night under the roof of her old friend--but she had
never been near the house.

Her mind in this instance, and, as I feared, in other instances
besides, confusedly presented to her something which she had only
intended to do in the false light of something which she had really
done. The unconscious contradiction of herself was easy to account for
in this way--but it was likely to lead to serious results. It was a
stumble on the threshold at starting--it was a flaw in the evidence
which told fatally against us.

When I next asked for the letter which Laura had written to Mrs. Vesey
from Blackwater Park, it was given to me without the envelope, which
had been thrown into the wastepaper basket, and long since destroyed.
In the letter itself no date was mentioned--not even the day of the
week. It only contained these lines:--"Dearest Mrs. Vesey, I am in
sad distress and anxiety, and I may come to your house to-morrow night,
and ask for a bed. I can't tell you what is the matter in this
letter--I write it in such fear of being found out that I can fix my
mind on nothing. Pray be at home to see me. I will give you a
thousand kisses, and tell you everything. Your affectionate Laura."
What help was there in those lines? None.

On returning from Mrs. Vesey's, I instructed Marian to write (observing
the same caution which I practised myself) to Mrs. Michelson. She was
to express, if she pleased, some general suspicion of Count Fosco's
conduct, and she was to ask the housekeeper to supply us with a plain
statement of events, in the interests of truth. While we were waiting
for the answer, which reached us in a week's time, I went to the doctor
in St. John's Wood, introducing myself as sent by Miss Halcombe to
collect, if possible, more particulars of her sister's last illness
than Mr. Kyrle had found the time to procure. By Mr. Goodricke's
assistance, I obtained a copy of the certificate of death, and an
interview with the woman (Jane Gould) who had been employed to prepare
the body for the grave. Through this person I also discovered a means
of communicating with the servant, Hester Pinhorn. She had recently
left her place in consequence of a disagreement with her mistress, and
she