He handed Gorman part of another envelope, torn in exactly the same way. Gorman looked at it.
“Same sort of envelope,” he said. “Same postmark, different dates.”
“That last one,” said Phillips, “is a corner of an envelope which I got through the post ten days ago. It came from the office, Mr. Steinwitz’ office. The first one I found in the hall of the Queen’s palace the day we landed on Salissa.”
“Well,” said Gorman, “that’s not much to go on. Lots of firms use envelopes like that, and I suppose there are thousands of letters every day with that postmark. Still it’s possible that Steinwitz wrote a letter to some one who was on the island last September. Were there any other bits of paper on that floor?”
“There were,” said Phillips, “but I didn’t pick them up. I intended to next day. But they were gone. The floor had been swept.”
“Oh! Who swept the floor?”
“Smith. I saw him doing it.”
“Now who,” said Gorman, “is Smith?”
“Smith! He was steward on the Ida. Mr. Steinwitz sent him on board just before we sailed. He stayed on the island as servant to the Donovans. Oh, by the way, talking of Smith, perhaps I ought to tell you——”
He told Gorman the story of Smith’s early morning visit to the cave in company with Stephanos the Elder.