The lawyer had confided the errand to him in the belief that he would accept the mission in the spirit in which it was entrusted to him, and his part in the transaction was a matter between himself and Fitch and did not concern Mrs.Owen in any way whatever.

No possible benefit could accrue to Sylvia from a disclosure of his suspicion that he had borne the letter to her grandfather.

Mrs.
Owen had given him the letter that he might be in a position to protect Sylvia, and there was nothing incompatible between this confidence and his duty to Fitch, who continued to be a kind and helpful friend.

He dreaded the outcome of an interview between this shrewd, penetrating, and indomitable woman and the lawyer.

The letter, cold and colorless in what it failed to say, and torn half across to mark the indecision of the old professor, had in it a great power for mischief.
While Harwood's mind was busy with these reflections he had been acquiescing in various speculations in which Mrs.Owen had been indulging, without really being conscious of their import.
"I don't know that any good can come of keeping the letter, Daniel.