Before Lady Lydiard could speak again, Mr. Troy discreetly interfered.
He saw plainly that his experience was required to lead the
investigation in the right direction.

"Pardon me, my Lady," he said, with that happy mixture of the positive
and the polite in his manner, of which lawyers alone possess the secret.
"There is only one way of arriving at the truth in painful matters of
this sort. We must begin at the beginning. May I venture to ask your
Ladyship a question?"

Lady Lydiard felt the composing influence of Mr. Troy. "I am at your
disposal, sir," she said, quietly.

"Are you absolutely certain that you inclosed the bank-note in the
letter?" the lawyer asked.

"I certainly believe I inclosed it," Lady Lydiard answered. "But I was so
alarmed at the time by the sudden illness of my dog, that I do not feel
justified in speaking positively."

"Was anybody in the room with your Ladyship when you put the inclosure
in the letter--as you believe?"

"_I_ was in the room," said Moody. "I can swear that I saw her Ladyship
put the bank-note in the letter, and the letter in the envelope."

"And seal the envelope?" asked Mr. Troy.

"No, sir. Her Ladyship was called away into the next room to the dog,
before she could seal the envelope."