“Perhaps we have no right to ask. Now you must tell me some other things, and, believe me, my questions are not prompted by curiosity, but are necessary to the discovery of the truth. Why did Mr. Carleton point to that paper?”

“He⁠—he seemed so shocked and stunned that he was almost unable to speak. I suppose he thought that would explain why she had killed herself.”

“But she hadn’t killed herself.”

“But he thought she had, and he thought that paper proved it.”

“But why had he need to prove it, and to you?”