The Sealed Message by Fergus Hume — Read

It is admitted that Man as a whole is not infallible, but each individual man has a secret belief that he is. Haskins was no more complacent than other mortals -- in fact, less so -- yet he had an idea that his caution and common-sense invariably prevented his making mistakes. Assuredly, as a rule, he was rarely in error, but to every rule there is an exception, and Haskins' ill-judged frankness to Mrs. Crosbie was the exception in this case. It said much for Gerald's sane view of life that he recognized his mistake at once, and at the cost of some unpleasantness hastened to correct it. This entailed an interview with Major Rebb, which was likely to be a stormy one.

At the outset Gerald believed that he had read Mrs. Crosbie's character all wrong, and that even after years of close companionship -- since she had been so intimate with his mother -- he knew very little about her. Had she really been that which he believed her to be, she would -- he thought immediately on leaving Ladysmith Court -- have readily helped him in his somewhat eccentric wooing. But on calmer reflection he arrived at the conclusion that he, himself, was in error.