room making some further
observation as to his hope of seeing Graham in the drawing-room on
the next day.

On the following morning there came from Peckham two more letters for
Graham, one of course from Mary Snow, and one from Mrs. Thomas. We
will first give attention to that from the elder lady. She commenced
with much awe, declaring that her pen trembled within her fingers,
but that nevertheless she felt bound by her conscience and that
duty which she owed to Mr. Graham, to tell him everything that had
occurred,--"word by word," as she expressed it. And then Felix,
looking at the letter, saw that he held in his hand two sheets of
letter paper, quite full of small writing, the latter of which was
crossed. She went on to say that her care had been unremitting, and
her solicitude almost maternal; that Mary's conduct had on the whole
been such as to inspire her with "undeviating confidence;" but that
the guile of the present age was such, especially in respect to
female servants--who seemed, in Mrs. Thomas's opinion, to be sent in
these days express from a very bad place for the express assistance
of a very bad gentleman--that it was impossible for any woman, let
her be ever so circumspect, to say "what was what, or who was who."
From all which Graham learned that Mrs. Thomas had been "done;" but
by the middle of the third page he had as yet learned nothing as to
the manner of the doing.

But by degrees the long reel unwinded itself;--angel of light, and
all. Mary Snow had not only received but had answered a lover's
letter. She had answered that lover's letter by making an appointment
with him; and she had kept that appointment,--with the assistance of
the agent sent express from that very bad gentleman. All this Mrs.
Thomas had only discovered afterwards by finding the lover's letter,
and the answer which the angel of light had written. Both of these
she copied verbatim, thinking probably that the original documents
were too precious to be intrusted to the post; and then ended by
saying that an additional year of celibacy, passed under a closer
espionage, and with more severe moral training, might still perhaps
make Mary Snow fit for the high destiny which had been promised to
her.

The only part of this letter which Felix read twice was that which
contained the answer from the angel of light to her lover. "You have
been very wicked to address me," the angel of light said severely.
"And it is almost impossible th