,
however, to say:

"Mrs. Ocumpaugh, I do not want to distress you, but I must ask you a few
questions first. Do you know the secret of that strangely divided room?"

"Only in a general way. Mr. Ocumpaugh has never told me."

"You have not seen the written account of it?"

"No."

"Nor given into Mrs. Carew's hand such an account?"

"No."

Mrs. Carew's duplicity was assuming definite proportions.

"Yet there is such an account and I have listened to a reading of it."

"You?"

"Yes, madam. Mrs. Carew read it to me last night in her own house. She
told me it came to her from your hands. You see she is not always
particular in her statements."

A lift of the hand, whether in deprecation or appeal I could not say,
was all the answer this received. I saw that I must speak with the
utmost directness.

"This account was in the shape of a letter on several sheets of paper.
These sheets were very old, and were torn as well as discolored. I had
them in my hand and noticed that a piece was lacking from one of them.
Mrs. Ocumpaugh, are you ready to repeat that Mrs. Carew did not receive
this old letter from you or obtain it in any way you know of from the
house we are now in?"

"I had rather not be forced to contradict Mrs. Carew," was the low
reply; "but in justice to you I must acknowledge that I hear of this
letter for the first time. God grant--but what can any old letter have
to do with the agonizing question before us? I am not strong, Mr.
Trevitt--I am suffering--do not confuse and burden me, I pray--"

"Pardon, I am not saying one unnecessary word. These old sheets--a
secret from the family--did not come from this house. Whence, then, did
they come into Mrs. Carew's possession? I see you have forestalled my
answer; and if you will now glance at this end of paper, picked up by me
in your presence from the cellar floor across which we both know that
her footsteps have passed, you will see that it is a proof capable of
convicting her of the fact."

I held out the scrap I now took from my pocket.

Mrs. Ocumpaugh's hand refused to take it or her eyes to consult it.

Nevertheless I still held it out.

"Pray read the few words you will find there," I urged. "They are in
explanation of the document itself, but they will serve to convince you
that the letter to which they were attached, and which is now in Mrs.
Carew's hands, came from that decaying room."

"No, no!" The gesture which accompanied this exclama