While Basil still lay in prison, Count Jules sought her.
"You have baffled me, my lady," he said.
"Yes," was the calm reply, "I have checkmated you, count.

You will extort no more money from me, nor will you threaten me again." "Well," said the count, "I confess myself beaten, and I am not a good man, either, my Lady Amelie, but sooner than have blighted that young man's life, as you have done, I would have suffered anything." "My dear count," said Lady Amelie, philosophically, "some men seem, by fate and by nature, destined to be used as a cat's-paw." Count Jules was baffled; his only hold upon the rich and beautiful Lady Amelie was broken.

What those letters contained was known only to the lady and himself.

If simply the written expressions of her own unhappiness, he placed more value on them than they were worth.

The chances are that they held more than that.
He was entirely defeated--they had been his last resources for long.