In
consequence, Mrs. Walworth was guilty in his estimation, and being
held guilty could be no wife for him, much as he had loved her, and
urgent as may have been the cause for her act.

"But," said I, in some horror of the consequences of an interference
for which I was almost ready to blame myself now, "Mrs. Couldock and
Miss Dawes could have done no more than deny all knowledge of this
letter. Now Mrs. Walworth does that, and--"

"You have seen her? You have asked her--"

"Yes, I have seen her, and I have asked her, and not an eyelash
drooped as she affirmed a complete ignorance of the whole affair."

Taylor's head fell.

"I told you how that would be," he murmured at last. "I cannot feel
that it is any proof of her innocence. Or rather," he added, "I should
always have my doubts."

"And Mrs. Couldock and Miss Dawes?"

"Ah!" he cried, rising and turning away; "there is no question of
marriage between either of them and myself."

I was therefore not astonished when the week went by and no
announcement of his wedding appeared. But I was troubled and am
troubled still, for if mistakes are made in criminal courts, and the
innocent sometimes, through the sheer force of circumstantial
evidence, are made to suffer for the guilty, might it not be that in
this little question of morals Mrs. Walworth has been wronged, and
that when I played the part of arbitrator in her fate, I only
succeeded in separating two hearts whose right it was to be made
happy?

It is impossible to tell, nor is time likely to solve the riddle. Must
I then forever blame myself, or did I only do in this matter what any
honest man would have done in my place? Answer me, some one, for I do
not find my lonely bachelor life in any wise brightened by the doubt,
and would be grateful to any one who would relieve me of it.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD STONE HOUSE AND OTHER
STORIES***

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