. I make no doubt I should have burnt it within another ten
minutes: as for cleansing one's mind of it so quickly, that must be a
counsel of perfection. But you were shown in, and I--I made certain
that you could contradict this disgraceful report and set my mind at
rest. Forgive me."

"Ah, Master"--Brother Copas glanced up with a quick smile--
"it almost looks as if you were right after all, and one is never too
old to confess!" He bent and held the edge of the paper close to the
blaze. "May I burn it?"

"By all means."

"Nay, then, I won't. But since you have freely parted with it, may I
keep it? . . . I have had some little experience with manuscripts,
and it is just possible I may trace this to the writer--who is
assuredly a woman," added Brother Copas, studying the letter again.
"You have my leave to do so."

"And you ask no further question?"

The Master hesitated. At length he said firmly--

"None. I have no right. How can so foul a thing confer any right?"

Brother Copas was silent for a space.

"Nay, that is true, Master; it cannot. . . . Nevertheless, I will
answer what was in your mind to ask. When I came into the room you
were pondering this letter. The thought of it--pah!--mixed itself up
with a thought of the appointment you had set for me--with the
Petition; and the two harked back together upon a question you put to
me just now. 'Why was not Brother Bonaday among the signatories?'
Between them they turned that question into a suspicion. Guilty men
are seldom bold: as the Scots say, 'Riven breeks sit still.' . . .
Was not this, or something like it, in your mind, sir?"

"I confess that it was."

"Why then, Master, I too will confess--I that came to you to denounce
the practice. Of what this letter hints Bonaday is innocent as--as
you are. He approved of the Petition and was on the point of signing
it; but he desired your good leave to make a home for his child.
Between parent and Protestant my friend was torn, and moreover
between conscience and loyalty. He could not sue for this favour
from you, his soul weighted with an intention to go straightway and
do what must offend you."

Master Blanchminster faced Brother Copas squarely, standing of a
sudden erect. It seemed to add inches to his stature.

"Had he so poor a trust in me, after these years?"

"No, Master." Brother Copas bent his head. "That is where I come in.
All this is but preparatory. . . . I am a fraud--as lit