"And put the question to Hardyman?"
"Yes."
"Very good," said Sharon. "If you get your answer from his tongue,
instead of his boot, the case is cleared up--unless I have made a
complete mess of it. Look here, Moody! If you want to do me a good turn,
tell the lawyer that the guinea-opinion was the right one. Let him know
that _he_ was the fool, not you, when he buttoned up his pockets and
refused to trust me. And, I say," pursued Old Sharon, relapsing into his
customary impudence, "you're in love, you know, with that nice girl. I
like her myself. When you marry her invite me to the wedding. I'll
make a sacrifice; I'll brush my hair and wash my face in honor of the
occasion."
Returning to his lodgings, Moody found two letters waiting on the table.
One of them bore the South Morden postmark. He opened that letter first.
It was written by Miss Pink. The first lines contained an urgent
entreaty to keep the circumstances connected with the loss of the five
hundred pounds the strictest secret from everyone in general, and from
Hardyman in particular. The reasons assigned for making the strange
request were next expressed in these terms: "My niece Isabel is, I
am happy to inform you, engaged to be married to Mr. Hardyman. If the
slightest hint reached him of her having been associated, no matter how
cruelly and unjustly, with a suspicion of theft, the marriage would be
broken off, and the result to herself and to everybody connected with
her, would be disgrace for the rest of our lives.
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