第86章

ArnoldexplainedthatGeoffrey，intheabsenceofanythingelsetowritehisexcusesontoAnne，hadwrittentoheronthefourthorblankpageofaletterwhichhadbeenaddressedtohimbyAnneherself。

“Didyoureadthatletter？“askedSirPatrick。

“ImighthavereaditifIhadliked。“

“Andyoudidn’treadit？“

“No。“

“Why？“

“Outofdelicacy。“

EvenSirPatrick’scarefullytrainedtemperwasnotproofagainstthis。“ThatisthemostmisplacedactofdelicacyIeverheardofinmylife!“criedtheoldgentleman，warmly。“Nevermind!it’suselesstoregretitnow。Atanyrate，youreadDelamayn’sanswertoMissSilvester’sletter？“

“Yes——Idid。“

“Repeatit——asnearlyasyoucanrememberatthisdistanceoftime。“

“Itwassoshort，“saidArnold，“thatthereishardlyanythingtorepeat。AswellasIremember，GeoffreysaidhewascalledawaytoLondonbyhisfather’sillness。HetoldMissSilvestertostopwhereshewas；andhereferredhertome，asmessenger。

That’sallIrecollectofitnow。“

“Cudgelyourbrains，mygoodfellow!thisisveryimportant。DidhemakenoallusiontohisengagementtomarryMissSilvesteratCraigFernie？Didn’thetrytopacifyherbyanapologyofsomesort？“

ThequestionrousedArnold’smemorytomakeanothereffort。

“Yes，“heanswered。“Geoffreysaidsomethingaboutbeingtruetohisengagement，orkeepinghispromiseorwordstothateffect。“

“You’resureofwhatyousaynow？“

“Iamcertainofit。“

SirPatrickmadeanothernote。

“Wasthelettersigned？“heasked，whenhehaddone。

“Yes。“

“Anddated？“

“Yes。“Arnold’smemorymadeasecondeffort，afterhehadgivenhissecondaffirmativeanswer。“Waitalittle，“hesaid。“I

remembersomethingelseabouttheletter。Itwasnotonlydated。

Thetimeofdayatwhichitwaswrittenwasputaswell。“

“Howcamehetodothat？“

“Isuggestedit。TheletterwassoshortIfeltashamedtodeliveritasitstood。Itoldhimtoputthetime——soastoshowherthathewasobligedtowriteinahurry。Heputthetimewhenthetrainstarted；and(Ithink)thetimewhentheletterwaswrittenaswell。“

“AndyoudeliveredthatlettertoMissSilvester，withyourownhand，assoonasyousawherattheinn？“

“I