The  thing  that  had  turned  me  definitely  against  M

followed  a  letter  which  my  brother  Paul  once  sent  to  my
mother,  enclosing  a  check  for  ten  dollars  and  intended  espe-
cially for  her.  Because  it  was  sent  to  her  personally  she
wanted  to  keep  it  secret  from  the  others,  and  to  do  this  she
sent  me  to  the  general  postoffice,  on  which  it  was  drawn,  with
her  signature  filled  in  and  myself  designated  as  the  proper
recipient.  I  got  the  money  and  returned  it  to  her,  but  either
because  of  her  increasing  illness  or  because  she  still  wanted
to  keep  it  a  secret,  when  Paul  mentioned  it  in  another  letter
she  said  she  had  not  received  it.  Then  she  died  and  the  matter
of  the  money  came  up.  It  was  proved  by  inquiry  at  the
postoffice  that  the  money  had  been  paid  to  me.  I  confirmed
this  and  asserted,  which  was  true,  that  I  had  given  it  to

mother.    M alone,  of  all  the  family,  felt  called  upon  to

question  this.  She  visited  an  inspector  at  the  general  post-
office  (a  friend  of  A 's  by  the  way)  and  persuaded  him

to  make  inquiry,  with  a  view  no  doubt  to  frightening  me.
The  result  of  this  was  a  formal  letter  asking  me  to  call  at
his  office.  When  I  went  and  found  that  he  was  charging  me
with  the  detention  of  this  money  and  demanding  its  return  on
pain  of  my  being  sent  to  prison,  I  blazed  of  course  and  told
him  to  go  to  the  devil.  When  I  reached  home  I  was  furious.
I  called  out  my  sister  M and  told  her — well,  many  things.
