J. J. Bell

“ She switched on a light, rubbed her eyes and picked from the carpet the letter which she had thrown in before making her entrance. Blinkingly she read the superscription.
“How very extraordinary!” she said under her breath. “Dear me, I shall have more than ever to think about now! What a life it is, to be sure!” ”

“ Miss Gosling hid the letter in her dress, hoping she was not looking as pale as she felt.
“Have you had a visitor, Joan?” she managed to inquire.
Joan laughed. “Yes. I'm sorry you did not meet him—a police officer doing his best to make our flesh creep with stories of suspicious characters in the district. I'm afraid the maids will be giving notice..... Come in,” she added, as she switched on the library lights. “I've only got to lock up the safe. Fancy leaving it open like this, and the window open too, with those dreadful suspicious characters in the district!” ”

“ Miss Lismore dropped it from the window, but ill-luck intervened in the shape of a friend of yours. You had better take a seat.”
LISMORE stumbled to the opposite chair, and Stormont told of Miss Gosling, her capture of the letter and his attempt to get it from her.
When he had ended, Lismore said heavily: “So we are discovered and ruined, thanks to your want of foresight. You ought to have arranged things so that—”
“Don't drivel. For myself, I don't feel that I have fallen under suspicion at all; and as for you, there may still be a way out. You have simply got to manage your daughter. ”