'
'Just so; and when the walls were searched, and, as your uncle Silas
directed, the wainscoting removed, some months afterwards, when the scandal
grew loudest, then it was evident that there was no concealed access to the
room.'
'So the answer to all those calumnies was simply that the crime was
impossible,' said I. 'How dreadful that such a slander should have required
an answer at all!'
'It was an unpleasant affair even then, although I cannot say that anyone
supposed Silas guilty; but you know the whole thing was disreputable, that
Mr. Charke was a discreditable inmate, the occurrence was horrible, and
there was a glare of publicity which brought into relief the scandals of
Bartram-Haugh. But in a little time it became, all on a sudden, a great
deal worse.'
My cousin paused to recollect exactly.
'There were very disagreeable whispers among the sporting people in London.
This person, Charke, had written two letters, Yes--two. They were published
about two months after, by the villain to whom they were written; he wanted
to extort money. They were first talked of a great deal among that set in
town; but the moment they were published they produced a sensation in the
country, and a storm of newspaper commentary.
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