He can't mean it.

Stephen can't be a thief." Half-formed, incoherent sentences like these floated in her mind, seemed to be floating in the air, pronounced by hissing voices.
She pressed her hands to her temples, and sprang to her feet.

The letter rustled on the floor, as her gown swept over it.

She turned and looked at it, as if it were a living thing she would kill.

She stooped to pick it up, and then recoiled from it.