"Write to _you_! Oh, sir, I could not do such a thing," answered Janet, beginning to tremble.
"But you might have known I should be your friend. You might also have known that I should have been able to clear you."
"I did once think of writing to you, Dr. Knox: just to tell you that I had not indeed touched the bank-note," faltered Janet. "As the money came from you, I should have liked to write so much. But I did not dare."
"And you preferred to suffer all these weeks of pain, and the fright brought upon you by Mrs. Knox--for which," said he deliberately, "I shall never forgive her--rather than drop me a few lines! You must never be so foolish again, Janet. I should have gone to Lefford at once and searched out the mystery of the note--and found it."
Janet moved her lips and shook her head, as much as to say that he could never have done that.
"But I have done it," said he. "I have been down to Lefford and found it all out, and have brought the bank-note up with me--what remains of it. Sally was the culprit."
"Sally!" gasped Janet, going from red to white.
"Sally--but not intentionally. She lighted the fire that afternoon with the note and some more scraps. The note fell out, only partly burnt; and I am going to take it to the bank that they may exchange it for a whole one."
"Of course they will; it is in the regular course of business that they should," affirmed Dr. Knox, deeming it best to be positive for her sake. "Now, Janet, if you are to tremble like this, I shall go away and send up Miss Cattledon--and she does not look as if she had a very amiable temper. Why, my dear child, you ought to be glad."
"Oh, so I am, so I am!" she said, breaking into sobs. "And--and does every one in Lefford know that I was innocent?"
"No one in Lefford believed you guilty. Of course, it is all known, and in the newspapers too--how Sally lighted the fire with a fifty-pound bank-note, and the remains were fished out of the ashes."
"Mrs. Knox--Mrs. Knox----" She could not go on for agitation.
"As to Mrs. Knox, I am not sure but we might prosecute her. Rely upon one thing, Janet: that she will not be very well welcomed at her beloved soirées for some long time to come."
Janet looked at the fire and thought. Dr. Knox kept silence, that she might recover herself after the news.