You have never understood that I was your sincere friend. You have turned from me and looked elsewhere, and now you suffer for it. But I am like all the best metal—strong and bright to the last; and—see I have come to you now to forewarn you, because I thought that if it came on you all at once there would be trouble and bother."
"Thank you, Mr. Scantlebray. It is true that we are not busy just now, but it does not follow that we are disposed for a talk. It is growing dark, and we shall lock up the cottage and go to bed."
"Oh, I will not detain you long. Besides I'll take the wish out of your heart for bed in one jiffy. Look here—read this. Do you know the handwriting?"
He held out a letter. Judith reluctantly took it. She had risen; she had not asked Scantlebray to take a seat.
"Yes," she said, "that is the writing of Captain Coppinger."
"A good bold hand," said the agent, "and see here is his seal with his motto, Thorough. You know that?"
"Yes—it is his seal."
"Now read it."
Judith knelt at the hearth.
"Blow, blow the fire up, my beauty," called Scantlebray to Jamie. "Don't you see that your sister wants light, and is running the risk of blinding her sweet pretty eyes." Jamie puffed vigorously and sent out sparks snapping and blinking, and brought the wood to a white glow, by which Judith was able to decipher the letter.
It was a formal order from Cruel Coppinger to Mr. Obadiah Scantlebray to remove James Trevisa that evening, after dark, from Othello Cottage to his idiot asylum, to remain there in custody till further notice. Judith remained kneeling, with her eyes on the letter, after she had read it. She was considering. It was clear to her that directly after leaving her Captain Coppinger had formed his own resolve, either impatient of waiting the six hours he had allowed her, or because he thought the alternative of the Asylum the only one that could be accepted by her, and it was one that would content himself, as the only one that avoided exposure of a scandal. But there were other asylums than that of Scantlebray, and others were presumably better managed, and those
