he is safe he is quite safe mark my words he will never more be heard of the lawyer listened gloomily he did not like his friend s feverish manner you seem pretty sure of him said he and for your sake i hope you may be right if it came to a trial your name might appear i am quite sure of him replied i have grounds for certainty that i cannot share with anyone but there is one thing on which you may advise me i have � i have received a letter and i am at a loss whether i should show it to the police i should like to leave it in your hands you would judge wisely i am sure i have so great a trust in you incident of the letter you fear i suppose that it might lead to his detection asked the lawyer no said the other i cannot say that i care what becomes of i am quite done with him i was thinking of my own character which this hateful business has rather exposed awhile he was surprised at his friend s selfishness and yet relieved by it well said he at last let me see the letter the letter was written in an odd upright hand and signed edward and it signified briefly enough that the writer s benefactor dr whom he had long so repaid for a thousand need labour under no alarm for his safety as ho had means of escape on which he placed a sure dependence the lawyer liked this letter well enough it put a better colour on the intimacy than he had looked for and he blamed himself for some of his past suspicions have you the envelope he asked i burned it replied before i thought what i was but it bore no the note was handed in dr and mb shall i keep this and sleep upon it asked i wish you to judge for me entirely was the reply i have lost confidence in myself well i shall consider returned the lawyer and now one word more it was who dictated the terms in your wiu about that disappearance the doctor seemed seized with a of he shut his mouth tight and nodded i knew it said he meant to murder you you haye had a fine escape i have had what is far more to the purpose returned the doctor solemnly i haye had a lesson � o god what a lesson i have had and he covered his face for a moment with his hands on his way out the lawyer stopped and had a word or two with by the by said he there was a letter handed in to day what was the messenger like but was positive nothing had come except by post and only by that he added this news sent o� f the visitor with his fears incident op the letter renewed plainly the letter had come by the door possibly indeed it had been written in the cabinet and if that were so it be differently judged and handled with the more caution the as he went were crying themselves hoarse along the special edition shocking murder of an m p that was the funeral of one friend and and he could not help a certain apprehension lest the good name of another should be sucked down in the of the scandal it was at least a decision that he had to make and self as he was by habit he began to cherish a longing for advice it was not to be had directly but perhaps he thought it might be for presently after he sat on one side of his own hearth with mr guest his head clerk upon the other and between at a nicely calculated distance from the fire a bottle of a particular old wine that had long dwelt in the foundations of his house the fog still slept on the wing above the drowned city where the lamps like dr and mr and through the and of these fallen clouds the procession of the town s life was still rolling in through the great with a sound as of a mighty wind but the room was gay with in the bottle the were long ago resolved the imperial had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn on was ready to be set free and to the of london the lawyer melted there was no man from whom he kept fewer secrets than mr guest and he was not always sure that he kept as many as he meant guest had often been on business to the doctor s he knew he could scarce haye failed to hear of mr s familiarity about the house he might draw conclusions was it not as well then that he should see a letter which put that mystery to rights and above all since guest being a great student and critic of handwriting would consider the step natural and obliging the clerk besides was a man of counsel he would scarce read so strange a document without dropping a remark and by incident op the letter that remark mr might shape his future course this is a sad business about sir he said sir indeed it has a great deal of public feeling returned guest the man of course was mad i should like to hear your views on that replied i have a document here in his handwriting it is between ourselves for i scarce know what to do about it it is an ugly business at the best but there it is quite in your way a murderer s guest s eyes brightened and he sat down at once and studied it with passion no sir he said not mad but it is an odd hand and by 