.

To whom, may I ask ?" "To Brother Copas, of all people," confessed the Master with a rueful little chuckle.

"Yes, I don't wonder that you stare: yet it happened very simply.

You remember the day I asked you to send him to me for a talk about the Petition?
Well, he found me in distress over this letter, which I had just received, and on an impulse I showed it to him.

I really wanted his assurance that the charge was as baseless as it was foul, and that assurance he gave me.