The letter did not say too much; it did not magnify the difficulty, it did not depreciate it.

It did not even directly counsel; it was wholesomely, tenderly judicial.

Indirectly, it dwelt upon the steadiness and manliness of Frank's character; directly, lightly, and without rhetoric, it enlarged upon their own comradeship.
It ran over pleasantly the days of their boyhood, when they were hardly ever separated.

It made distinct, yet with no obvious purpose, how good were friendship and confidence--which might be the most unselfish thing in the world--between two men.

With the letter before him Frank Armour saw his act in a new light.
As we said, it is possible if he had read it on the day when his trouble came to him, he had not married Lali, or sent her to England on this--to her--involuntary mission of revenge.