Oh, hush, darling, hush! We must not say hard things of a man who has confessed, and who is bitterly repentant.

I can't tell you the whole story now; you shall hear every detail later; but he saw it fall from the letter, as you opened it.

He was tempted, first, to cover it with his foot; then, to put it in his pocket; and, after he had read it, he wrote to me implying that you had told him the news it contained; so, when you arrived home, how could I possibly imagine that you did not know it ?" "Did not know _what ?_" asked Ronnie.
She drew a folded paper from her pocket.
"My darling, this will tell you best.

It is the note intended to reach you at Leipzig; it is the note which, until this afternoon, I had all along believed you to have received." She put her note into his hand.
"I hope you will be able to read it by this light, Ronnie.

I was very weak when I wrote it.