"But perhaps this packet which we have, in the discharge of our duty, taken from you, will explain better than I can." He took the packet from his pocket and laid it on the table.

As he did so, he glanced for the first time at the old man, who was sitting so quietly, so immovably.
"Will you allow me to open it--or perhaps we will ask his lordship to do so ?" Derrick looked from one to the other and bit his lip.
"That packet is a confidential one," he said; "but"-- moved by an impulse he could not understand--"I am willing that Mr.Clendon shall open it.
It has passed out of my hands.

I suppose I have no right to it," he added, rather bitterly.
"I made the proposition to save time," said Mr.Jacobs.

"There is the packet, your lordship." With a glance at Derrick, the old man took it and broke the seals slowly.

There was no surprise on his face as he read the enclosures.
Perhaps he had foreseen that which the packet contained.