Jamail Center for Legal Research
Tarlton Law Library

"Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, 
Which we ascribe to Heaven."
                 All's Well that Ends Well.

     "What is your own idea in regard to it?"
     "Well, I think upon the whole it will make but little difference in
public opinion. Those who thought Eleanore guilty before will feel that
they possess now greater cause than ever to doubt her innocence; while
those who have hitherto hesitated to suspect her will not consider that
the comparatively small amount bequeathed her would constitute an
adequate motive for so great a crime."
     "You have heard men talk; what seems to be the general opinion
among those you converse with?"
     "That the motive of the tragedy will be found in the partiality
shown in so singular a will, though how, they do not profess to know."
     Mr. Gryce suddenly became interested in one of the small drawers
before him.
     "And all this has not set you thinking?" said he.
     "Thinking," returned I. "I don't know what you mean. I am sure I
have done nothing but think for the last three days. I—"
     "Of course—of course," he cried. "I didn't mean to say
anything disagreeable. And so you have seen Mr. Clavering?"
     "Just seen him; no more."
     "And are you going to assist Mr. Harwell in finishing Mr. Leaven-
worth's book?"
     "How did you learn that?"
     He only smiled.
     "Yes," said I; "Miss Leavenworth has requested me to do her that
little favor."
     "She is a queenly creature!" he exclaimed in a burst of
enthusiasm. Then, with an instant return to his business-like tone:
"You are going to have opportunities, Mr. Raymond. Now there are two

things I want you to find out; first, what is the connection between
these ladies and Mr. Clavering—"
     "There is a connection, then?"
     "Undoubtedly. And secondly, what is the cause of the unfriendly
feeling which evidently exists between the cousins."
     I drew back and pondered the position offered me. A spy in a fair
woman's house! How could I reconcile it with my natural instincts as a
gentleman?
     "Cannot you find some one better adapted to learn these secrets for
you?" I asked at length. "The part of a spy is anything but
agreeable to my feelings, I assure you."
     Mr. Gryce's brows fell.
     "I will assist Mr. Harwell in his efforts to arrange Mr. Leaven
worth's manuscript for the press," I said; "I will give Mr. Clavering
an opportunity to form my acquaintance; and I will listen, if Miss
Leavenworth chooses to make me her confidant in any way. But any
hearkening at doors, surprises, unworthy feints or ungentlemanly
subterfuges, I herewith disclaim as outside of my province; my task
being to find out what I can in an open way, and yours to search into
the nooks and corners of this wretched business."
     "In other words, you are to play the hound, and I the mole; just
so, I know what belongs to a gentleman."
     "And now," said I, "what news of Hannah?" He shook both hands
high in the air. "None."

     I cannot say I was greatly surprised, that evening, when, upon
descending from an hour's labor with Mr. Harwell, I encountered Miss
Leavenworth standing at the foot of the stairs. There had been

something in her bearing, the night before, which prepared me for
another interview this evening, though her manner of commencing it was
a surprise. "Mr. Raymond," said she, with an air of marked
embarrassment, "I want to ask you a question. I believe you to be a
good man, and I know you will answer me conscientiously. As a brother
would," she added, lifting her eyes for a moment to my face. "I know
it will sound strange; but remember, I have no adviser but you, and I
must ask some one. Mr. Raymond, do you think a person could do
something that was very wrong, and yet grow to be thoroughly good
afterwards?"
     "Certainly," I replied; "if he were truly sorry for his fault."
     "But say it was more than a fault; say it was an actual harm;
would not the memory of that one evil hour cast a lasting shadow over
one's life?"
     "That depends upon the nature of the harm and its effect upon
others. If one had irreparably injured a fellow-being, it would be hard
for a person of sensitive nature to live a happy life afterwards;
though the fact of not living a happy life ought to be no reason why
one should not live a good life."
     "But to live a good life would it be necessary to reveal the evil
you had done? Cannot one go on and do right without confessing to the
world a past wrong?"
     "Yes, unless by its confession he can in some way make reparation."
     My answer seemed to trouble her. Drawing back, she stood for one
moment in a thoughtful attitude before me, her beauty shining with
almost a statuesque splendor in the glow of the porcelain-shaded lamp
at her side. Nor, though she presently roused herself, leading the way
into the drawing-room with a gesture that was 

allurement itself, did she recur to this topic again; but rather seemed to 
strive, in the conversation that followed, to make me forget what had 
already passed between us. That she did not succeed, was owing to 
my intense and unfailing interest in her cousin.
     As I descended the stoop, I saw Thomas, the butler, leaning over the
area gate. Immediately I was seized with an impulse to interrogate him
in regard to a matter which had more or less interested me ever since
the inquest; and that was, who was the Mr. Robbins who had called upon
Eleanore the night of the murder? But Thomas was decidedly
uncommunicative. He remembered such a person called, but could not
describe his looks any further than to say that he was not a small man.
     I did not press the matter.