Another day, he thought, would have made him safe on this side; and possibly he was right.

Had he once succeeded in getting ever so slight a hold on Mrs.Lee he would have told her this story with his own colouring, and from his own point of view, and he fully believed he could do this in such a way as to rouse her sympathy.

Now that her mind was prejudiced, the task would be much more difficult; yet he did not despair, for it was his theory that Mrs.
Lee, in the depths of her soul, wanted to be at the head of the White House as much as he wanted to be there himself, and that her apparent coyness was mere feminine indecision in the face of temptation.

His thoughts now turned upon the best means of giving again the upper hand to her ambition.

He wanted to drive Carrington a second time from the field.
Thus it was that, having read the letter once in order to learn what was in it, he turned back, and slowly read it again in order to gain time.
Then he replaced it in its envelope, and returned it to Mrs.Lee, who, with equal calmness, as though her interest in it were at an end, tossed it negligently into the fire, where it was reduced to ashes under Ratcliffe's eyes.
He watched it burn for a moment, and then turning to her, said, with his usual composure, "I meant to have told you of that affair myself.