l not give up its dead (Rev. xx. 13), any remains should
be recovered, but you may rest assured that if any come to the
surface and are identified they shall be interred in the family
grave where your sainted mother was laid, and reposes in the Lord,
in a sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection (Acts xxiii.
6).

"Believe me, my dear daughter, to remain your affectionate father

"ISAAC RUNCIMAN.

"I have no message for my son-in-law, nor do I retain any
resentment towards him, forgiving him as I wish to be forgiven
(Luke vi. 37).

"DARENTH MILL,
_Oct. 16, 1807_."

The Earl read this letter through twice--three times--and apparently his
bewilderment only increased as he re-read it. At last he refolded it, as
though no more light could come from more reading, and sat a moment
still, thinking intently. Then he suddenly exclaimed aloud:--"Amazing,"
adding under his voice:--"But perfectly inexplicable!" Then, going on
even less audibly:--"I must see what Hawtrey can make of this...." At
which point he was taken aback by a voice through the door from the next
room:--"What _are_ you talking to yourself so for? Can't you get to
bed?" Palpably the voice of an awakened Countess! He replied in a
conciliatory spirit, and accepted the suggestion, first putting the
letters safely away in the ebony cabinet.

* * * * *

Anyone who reads this forged letter with a full knowledge of all the
circumstances will see that it was at best, from the literary and
dramatic point of view, a bungling composition. But style was not called
for so long as the statements were coherent. For what did the forger's
wife know of what her father's style would be under these or any
abnormal circumstances? Had she ever had a letter at all from him
before? Even that is doubtful. The shock, moreover, was enough to
unbalance the most critical judgment.

Two things are very noticeable in the letter. One that it fights shy of
strong expressions of feeling, as though its fabricator had felt that
danger lay that way; the other that he manifestly enjoyed his Scripture
references, familiar to him by his long experience of gaol-chaplains,
and warranted by his knowledge of his father-in-law. We--who write
this--have referred to the passages indicated, and found the connection
of ideas to be about an average sample, as coherency goes when quotation
from Scripture is afoot. N