They proved to be so indeed, but she could still blush, almost, to show it. “I make out now what he must have done at school.” And she gave, in her simple sharpness, an almost droll disillusioned nod. “He stole!”

I turned it over⁠—I tried to be more judicial. “Well⁠—perhaps.”

She looked as if she found me unexpectedly calm. “He stole letters !”