Of all the little knick-knacks in your dressing-case, there wasn't
one that had so much as a speck on it. You never noticed it, any more
than you noticed me. I beg your pardon; I am forgetting myself. I will
make haste, and go on again.
"Well, I went in that morning to do my work in your room. There was your
nightgown tossed across the bed, just as you had thrown it off. I took
it up to fold it--and I saw the stain of the paint from Miss Rachel's
door!
"I was so startled by the discovery that I ran out with the nightgown
in my hand, and made for the back stairs, and locked myself into my own
room, to look at it in a place where nobody could intrude and interrupt
me.
"As soon as I got my breath again, I called to mind my talk with
Penelope, and I said to myself, 'Here's the proof that he was in
Miss Rachel's sitting-room between twelve last night, and three this
morning!'
"I shall not tell you in plain words what was the first suspicion that
crossed my mind, when I had made that discovery. You would only be
angry--and, if you were angry, you might tear my letter up and read no
more of it.
"Let it be enough, if you please, to say only this.
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