"I have told you: the note----"
"Ah! yes. I was about to remark on that when you spoke last--Mr. Inspector, why has not this note been put in evidence?"
Inspector Jones, with profuse apologies, laid the note on the table.
"I quite forgot," he said, looking ashamed, "but here it is. As you will see, Mr. Alpenny says that he is going away for three days."
"Where did you find the note, Miss Hedge?"
"Beside my bed on that night. I naturally thought that, as the light was out in the counting-house, and the note explained, that Mr. Alpenny had gone away as he intended."
"Quite right--very natural--hum--hum. When you found the body"--he spoke to Durban--"what clothes was it dressed in?"
"Mr. Alpenny always wore one suit," and Durban explained the old-fashioned dress; "but when I found the body, it was clothed in a loose cloak which he used to wear in rough weather."
"And a hat?"
"The hat was on the desk, sir."