The hand had stopped twitching and was clenched. Mrs. Underwood said in a quick, breathless voice,

“Oh, no-of course not-it was just a bit of a business letter- it wasn’t important at all. I just didn’t know how it got there, and that frightened me. Very stupid, I’m sure-but this close weather and the war-well, it plays tricks with your nerves, don’t you think?”

Miss Silver coughed.

“I am not troubled with nerves, I am thankful to say. They must be very disagreeable. Was it a letter you had received, or a letter you had written?”

Mrs. Underwood had taken out her powder compact and was attending to her face.

“Oh, one that I had written-nothing of any importance- just a torn piece, you know.”

“And you had not posted it?”

The compact sagged in a shaking hand.

“I-well, I-”

“It had been posted then? It is really better to tell me the truth, Mrs. Underwood. The letter had been posted, and that is why you were alarmed at finding a piece of it on your bedroom floor.”

Mrs. Underwood opened her mouth and shut it again. Miss Silver was reminded of a fish gasping. Not an attractive resemblance. She said in her kind, firm voice,

“If anyone is blackmailing you-”

Mrs. Underwood put out both hands as if to push something away and said,

“How did you know?”

Miss Silver smiled. It was a perfectly kind smile.

“It is my business to know that sort of thing. You are frightened about a letter. That naturally suggests blackmail.”

Put like that, it seemed quite simple. Mrs. Underwood experienced a sort of relief. The worst, or almost the worst, was over. She had not thought that she could tell anyone-not even when she got the address from Margaret, not even when she came up in the lift and rang the bell-but since this dowdy, governessy person had guessed, there was no doubt that it would be a relief to talk about it. She needn’t tell her everything. Something in her shuddered and said, “Oh, no-never!” But they could talk it over from the outside, as it were-they needn’t go farther than that. Like an echo of her thought, she heard Miss Silver say,