"I suppose it is; though I hadn't realized it. And then--the crash came?"
"Yes. When first those horrible letters began to fly about the parish they were put down as the work of some spiteful servant, dismissed for dishonesty, perhaps. But little by little Mrs. Carstairs' name began to be whispered in connection with them--no one knew how the rumour started, though I have always held the belief that the Vicar's wife herself was the first to suggest it."
"But Mrs. Carstairs and the woman were friends?"
"They had been--and in the first burst of friendship the foolish woman had poured out all her silly, sordid secrets to Chloe Carstairs, and then, possibly, repented having done so. They fell out, you see, and I suppose Mrs. Ogden, being a woman of a small and petty character herself, was only too ready to suspect her former friend. She swore, you know, that no one but Chloe could have known some of the details which were mentioned in the letters. I can't tell you how vile the whole thing was--and it was quite evidently the intention of the anonymous writer to drive Mrs. Ogden out of the parish by those libellous documents."
"But the matter was thoroughly sifted? And there could be no evidence against Mrs. Carstairs?"
"Well, when things had gone on for some time in a desultory kind of fashion--a letter here, another there, and then an interval of a few weeks--there came a perfect avalanche of the things, and the Vicar, although he had really wished to hush the matter up, was advised to take steps to find out the culprit."
"Even then I don't see how Mrs. Carstairs could be suspected----"
"Well, in a matter of this kind, when once a woman's name has been mentioned, it is very hard for her to clear herself. At first, guided, I confess, by me, she refused to take any notice of the affair. In the end, of course, she had to come forward to clear herself of a specific charge."
"But what weight had the evidence against her?"
"Well, certain curious things happened. It was found that the letters were all written on a particular kind of paper affected by Mrs. Carstairs for scribbling unimportant notes--household orders and so on--not by any means an uncommon paper, but still she was the only person in the village who bought it regularly. Then the handwriting, though it was scratchy and common-looking, did bear, in some words, a faint, very faint resemblance to hers; and once, when Chloe was away on a visit to Brighton, a letter came to the owner of Carr Hall, in the valley yonder, which had been posted at Hove. Then, as she may have told you, a trap was laid for her by some of the damned authorities"--he spoke heatedly--"she was supplied with marked paper; and sure enough the next letter which arrived was written on one of those identical sheets."