begged for secrecy.

Curll's word was good for little by itself, but his story hung together and the letter confirmed it.

And if, as now seemed clear, Curll was speaking the truth, the question remained, who was P.T., and how did he get the letters?
The answer, as Pope must have felt, was only too clear.
But Curll now took the offensive.

In reply to another letter from Smythe, complaining of his evidence, he went roundly to work; he said that he should at once publish all the correspondence.

P.T.