Although its information is garbled and, to a certain extent, inaccurate, those who have followed the adventures of the young couple under discussion will be able to appreciate its opinions at their true value.  When the writer states facts, of course, her veracity is unquestionable, but occasionally she flounders badly when she depends upon her own judgment.

Here is the letter: 

    “MY DEAR HELEN: 

“I have not seen or heard of you during so long a time that I am simply dying to tell you all that is happening here.  You will remember that some people named Anstruther bought the Fairlawn estate near our village some three years ago.  They are, as you know, enormously rich.  The doctor tells me that when they are not squeezing money out of the wretched Chinese, they dig it in barrow-loads out of some magic island in the Atlantic or the Pacific—­I really forget which.

“Anyhow, they could afford to entertain much more than they do.  Mrs. Anstruther is very nice looking, and could be a leader of society if she chose, but she seems to care for no one but her husband and her babies.  She has a boy and a girl, very charming children, I admit, and you seldom see her without them.  They have a French bonne apiece, and a most murderous-looking person—­a Mahommedan native, I believe—­stalks alongside and behaves as if he would instantly decapitate any person who as much as looked at them.  Such a procession you never saw!  Mrs. Anstruther’s devotion to her husband is too absurd.  He is a tall, handsome man, of distinguished appearance, but on the few occasions I have spoken to him he impressed me as somewhat taciturn.  Yet to see the way in which his wife even looks at him you would imagine that he had not his equal in the world!

“I believe there is some secret in their lives.  Colonel Anstruther used to be in the army—­he is now in command of our local yeomanry—­and although his name is ‘Robert,’ tout court, I have often heard Mrs. Anstruther call him ‘Jenks.’  Their boy, too, is christened Robert Jenks Anstruther.’  Now, my dear Helen, do make inquiries about them in town circles.  I particularly wish you to find out who is this person ’Jenks’—­a most vulgar name.  I am sure you will unearth something curious, because Mrs. Anstruther was a Miss Deane, daughter of the baronet, and Anstruther’s people are well known in Yorkshire.  There are absolutely no Jenkses connected with them on either side.

“I think I can help you by another clue, as a very odd incident occurred at our hunt ball last week.  The Anstruthers, I must tell you, usually go away for the winter, to China, or to their fabulous island.  This year they remained at home, and Colonel Anstruther became M.F.H., as he is certainly a most liberal man so far as sport and charity are