What can it mean?"
Kennedy unfolded the paper. Printed in large characters, in every
way similar to the four warnings that had been sent to us, was
just one ominous line. We read:
"Beware the man who professes to be a friend of your father."
I glanced from the note to Kennedy, then to Inez. One name was in
my mind, and before I knew it I had spoken it.
"Lockwood?" I queried inadvertently.
Her eyes met mine in sharp defiance. "Impossible," she exclaimed.
"It is some one trying to injure him with me. Beware of Mr.
Lockwood? How absurd!"
Yet it must have meant Lockwood. No one else could have been
meant. It was he, most of all, who might be called a friend of her
father. She seemed to see the implication without a word from us.
I could not help sympathizing with the brave girl in her struggle
between the attack against Lockwood and her love and confidence in
him. It did not need words to tell me that evidence must be
overwhelming to convince her that her lover might be involved in
any manner.
IX
THE PAPER FIBRES
Kennedy examined the anonymous letter carefully for several
minutes, while we watched him in silence.
"Too clever to use a typewriter," he remarked, still regarding the
note through the lens of a hand-glass.
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