"Of course they couldn"t."
"May I take it, therefore," Sir Robert continued, "that you believed your husband when he says that that letter was in his hands soon after three o"clock--long before you even reach Folkestone?"
"I believe my husband implicitly," Peggy said, and there was a little quaver in her voice.
"Do you recognise the handwriting?" Sir Robert asked.
"I have never seen it before," she answered.
The judge looked intently at the K.C. "I don"t want to interrupt you, Sir Robert," he said; "but do you know whose handwriting it is?"
"No, my lord," Sir Robert replied. "I am really asking for information."
"It is very curious," said the judge.
"It is, my lord," said Sir Robert. "My learned friend, Mr. Carteret, who is watching the case on behalf of Miss Admaston, informs me that he has had it submitted to every well-known handwriting expert in the United Kingdom, and indeed in Europe."
"And compared with the writing of every person however remotely connected with the parties concerned in this case?"
"He has even had it compared with Mrs. Admaston"s, my lord."
"And no doubt with Mr. Collingwood"s?" the judge continued.
"Yes," Sir Robert said, "and with Mr. Collingwood"s too, my lord--though, I regret to say, with no result."
He turned from the judge to Peggy. "And can"t you help us, Mrs.
Admaston?" he concluded.
"No, not from the envelope," Peggy answered.
"It is a most peculiar handwriting," the judge observed, leaning back in his seat.
Sir Robert continued his cross-examination. "Now, Mrs. Admaston," he said, "remember that that letter was in the hands of your husband just after three o"clock on 23rd March. Now, will you be so good as to read it?"
"Out loud?"
"Oh no. Read it to yourself."
There was dead silence in the court as with trembling hands the girl took the letter from the envelope and began to read it. All the spectators, those engaged in the case, and several members of the jury knew that the dramatic moment of all had arrived. There had been many dramatic moments, but this was to be the culminating one.
The excitement was intense, and, when Peggy suddenly gave a little cry, there was a low murmur of sound. She cried out loudly, sharply, as if in pain, while the judge and jury regarded her intently. Then she bent forward over the letter again and appeared to re-read it.
Suddenly she lifted her head and turned desperately to the President.
"Oh! my lord, this is infamous!" she cried.
Without any hesitation at all Sir Robert made his point.
"Do you still persist, Mrs. Admaston, in your statement that your trip to Paris was the result of an accident?"
Peggy was desperate. "My lord--this letter--it is a trap--it must be--a trap----" she wailed.
"Come, Mrs. Admaston," Sir Robert said very sternly; "can you still keep up this farce, this hypocritical farce?"
Suddenly Collingwood jumped up from his place. "My lord, I protest!" he said, in a voice which trembled with indignation.
The judge gave him a keen look as he subsided, muttering to himself.
"You will have an opportunity to-morrow," the judge said, "of showing your sympathy."
"Now, madam, having read that letter----" Sir Robert resumed.
The foreman of the jury rose. "My lord," he said, "the jury would like to see that letter."
"What do you say, Mr. M"Arthur and Mr. Menzies?" asked the judge.
"I can see no purpose in keeping it out any longer, my lord," Mr.
M"Arthur answered, while Mr. Menzies said that any mischief which it might do had been done already.
The President seemed to approve. "I think you are right," he said.
"Usher, give me the letter."
The letter was handed up again to the bench, and, adjusting his pince-nez, the judge proceeded to read it.
"Listen, gentlemen," he said, "and I will read it to you. The importance of this letter, gentlemen, which, as you have seen, has so terribly upset this poor lady, is that it was clearly written before 10.30 on the morning of the 23rd March, and was in the hands of Mr. Admaston long before Mrs. Admaston and her friends reached Folkestone--let alone Boulogne. The letter is dated March 23rd, and it is unsigned. Now, gentlemen, an anonymous letter is open to grave suspicion, but in the peculiar circ.u.mstances of this case the fact of its being anonymous makes no difference. If any one, other than the respondent and co-respondent, knew that they were going to stay in Paris on the night of the 23rd, and knew that before they started, it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of the fact. I will now read the letter:--
""Mrs. Admaston will be staying at Paris to-night alone with Mr. Collingwood. They have arranged to get separated from Lord Ellerdine and Lady Attwill at Boulogne and to stay the night together at the Hotel des Tuileries. If Mr. Admaston does not believe this, let him telephone the hotel to-night."
Mr. Carteret," the judge concluded, "were any other letters in this strange handwriting received by Miss Admaston?"
"One other, my lord, three days ago," said Mr. Carteret.
"I should like to see it," said the President.
The second letter was handed up to him, and he read it through carefully.
"It is all very mysterious," he said, shaking his head. "I think, gentlemen, that you had better hear it. It is as follows:--
""Please destroy the other letter and this, and save an old servant who honours the family from the anger of Mrs.
Admaston.""
The judge paused, carefully scrutinising the letter; then he took up an ivory reading-gla.s.s and looked at the letter through the magnifying lens.
"Am I right, Mr. Carteret," he said, "in my view that this letter has been blotted and not allowed to dry?"
Mr. Carteret leant over and had a hurried conversation with his handwriting expert. "I am instructed that there is no doubt as to that, my lord," he said, looking up.
"I should much like to see that blotting-paper," the President remarked.
"Blotting-paper!" said Sir Robert Fyffe. "So should we all, my lord."