I have done much to make my mother pity me--nothing to make
my mother blush for me.' Those are my daughter's own words.
"After what has passed between the officer and me, I think--stranger
as he is--that he should be made acquainted with what Miss Verinder has
said, as well as you. Read my letter to him, and then place in his
hands the cheque which I enclose. In resigning all further claim on his
services, I have only to say that I am convinced of his honesty and
his intelligence; but I am more firmly persuaded than ever, that the
circumstances, in this case, have fatally misled him."
There the letter ended. Before presenting the cheque, I asked Sergeant
Cuff if he had any remark to make.
"It's no part of my duty, Mr. Betteredge," he answered, "to make remarks
on a case, when I have done with it."
I tossed the cheque across the table to him. "Do you believe in THAT
part of her ladyship's letter?" I said, indignantly.
The Sergeant looked at the cheque, and lifted up his dismal eyebrows in
acknowledgment of her ladyship's liberality.
"This is such a generous estimate of the value of my time," he said,
"that I feel bound to make some return for it.
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