"He writes perfect English.Whatever may be in store, we must face it hopefully.Such things do not happen by chance.""He is evidently a gentleman - a man of refinement and delicate feeling.I am kindly disposed to him already.There is something chivalric and what is called 'old-fashioned' in his expressions.No young man writes like this nowadays."The letter, which both read many times, revealed the traits that Sir Walter declared.It was written with Latin courtesy and distinction.There were also touches of humor in it, which neither he nor Mary perceived:
"Claridge's Hotel, London.April 9.
"Dear Sir Walter Lennox,-In common with the rest of the world that knows England, I have recently been profoundly interested and moved at the amazing events reported as happening at Chadlands, in the County of Devon, under your roof.The circumstances were related in Italian journals with no great detail, but I read them in the 'Times' newspaper, being familiar with your language and a great lover of your country.
"I had already conceived the idea of communicating with you when - so small is the world in this our time - accident actually threw me into the society of one of your personal friends.At an entertainment given by the British Ambassador at Rome, a youngsoldier, one Colonel Vane, was able to do me some service in a crush of people, and I enjoyed the privilege of his acquaintance as the result.I would not have inflicted myself upon another generation, but he took an interest in conversing with one who knew his own language.He was also intelligent - for a military man.Needless to say, he made no allusion to the tragedy at Chadlands, but when he spoke of espionage in war and kindred matters, Ifound him familiar with the details concerning the death of the great English detective, Peter Hardcastle.I then asked him, as being myself deeply interested in the matter, whether it would be possible to get further and fuller details of the story of 'the Grey Room,' whereupon he told me, to my amazement, that he had been at Chadlands when your lamentedson-in-law, Captain Thomas May, passed out of life.I then recollected Colonel Vane's name, among others mentioned in the 'Times,' as at Chadlands when the disaster occurred.
"Finding that my curiosity was not idle, Colonel Vane accepted an invitation to dinner, and I enjoyed the pleasure of entertaining him and learning many personal and intimate particulars of the event.These were imparted in confidence, and he knew that I should not abuse his trust.Indeed, I had already told him that it was my determination to communicate with you upon the strength of his narrative.
"It seems improbable that anything I can say will bear upon the case, and I may presently find that I lack the means to serve you, or throw light where all is so profoundly buried in darkness.Yet I am not sure.Small things will oftenlead to greater, and though the past is unhappily beyond recall, since our Maker Himself cannot undo the work of yesterday, or obliterate events embalmed in vanished time, yet there is always the future; and if we could but read the past aright, which we never can, then the future would prove less of a painful riddle than mankind generally finds it.
"If, then, I can help you to read the past, I may at least modify your anxieties in the future; and should I, by a remote chance, be right in my suspicions, it is quite imperative that I place myself atyour service for the sake of mankind.In a word, a great crime has been committed, and the situation is possibly such that further capital crimes will follow it.I affirm nothing, but I conceive the agency responsible for these murders to be still active, since the police have been so completely foiled.At Chadlands there may still remain an unsleeping danger to those who follow you - a danger, indeed, to all human life, so long as it is permitted to persist.I write, of course, assuming you to be desirous of clearing this abominable mystery, both for your own satisfaction and thecredit of your house."There is but little to hope from me, and I would beg you not to feel sanguine in any way.Yet this I do believe: that if there is one man in the world to-day who holds the key of your tribulation, I am that man.One lives in hope that one may empty the world of so great a horror; and to do so would give one the most active satisfaction.But I promise nothing.
"If I should be on the right track, however, let me explain the direction in which my mind is moving.Human knowledge may not be equal to any solution, and I may fail accordingly.It may even be possible that the Rev.Septimus May did not err, and that at the cost of his life he exorcised some spirit whose operations were permitted for reasons hid in the mind of its Creator; but, so far as I am concerned, Ibelieve otherwise.And if I should prove correct, it will be possible to show that all has fallen out in a manner consonant with human reason and explicable by human understanding.I therefore came to England, glad of the excuse to do so, and waited upon you at your manor, only to hear, much to my chagrin, that you were not in residence, but had gone to Florence, a bird's journey from my own home!
"Now I write to the post-office at Milan, where your servant directed me that letters should for the moment be sent.If you are returning soon, I wait for you.If not, it may be possible to meet in Italy.But I should prefer to think you return ere long, for I cannot be of practical service until I have myself, with your permission, visited your house and seen the Grey Room with my own eyes.
"I beg you will accept my assurances of kindly regard and sympathy in the great sufferings you and Madame May have been called upon to endure.
"Until I hear from you, I remain at Claridge's Hotel in London.
"Ihavethehonortobe,
"Faithfullyyours,
"Vergilio Mannetti."
