Although he had only seen her handwriting when she signed the register at the clergyman's house he recognized the same free, well-formed characters in the "John Delancy Curtis, Esq." on the envelope.

He paled, perhaps, and a pang of a pain crueller than bodily ill may have wrung his heart, but he hesitated not a second about opening the letter.
Then he read: "DEAR MR.

CURTIS:--My father has been here, and with him a Mr.Otto Schmidt, a lawyer.

They told me that Jean de Courtois is alive, and that you know it, and have known it throughout.

Gladly would I have refused to believe them, but, sometimes, there are statements which cannot be lies--which partake of truth in their very essence--which sear their way into one's consciousness as white-hot iron scorches the flesh.