“First time! Has she written again?”

“Yes, she has written again today.”

A chair fell on the pavement of the verandah⁠—fell with a crash, as if it had been kicked down.

It was well for me that the Count’s revelation roused Sir Percival’s anger as it did. On hearing that I had been once more discovered I started so that the railing against which I leaned cracked again. Had he followed me to the inn? Did he infer that I must have given my letters to Fanny when I told him I had none for the postbag? Even if it was so, how could he have examined the letters when they had gone straight from my hand to the bosom of the girl’s dress?