He stood up and moved under the electric light in order to examine the fragment closely.
“It's got the local post-mark on it. I can see the VEN. The date's 1925, but the month part has been torn.”
He showed the scrap to Dr. Ringwood and then placed it carefully in his note-case.
“I hate jumping to conclusions, doctor; but it certainly does look as if someone had broken in here to get hold of letters. And they must have been pretty important letters if it was worth while to go the length of casual murder to secure them.”
Dr. Ringwood nodded.
“He must have been a pretty hard case to murder a defenceless woman.”
Sir Clinton's face showed a faint trace of a smile.
“There are two sexes, doctor.”
“What do you mean? . . . Oh, of course. I said ‘he must,’ and you think it might have been a woman?”
“I don't think so; but I hate to prejudge the case, you know. All that one can really say is that someone came here and killed that unfortunate woman. The rest's simply conjecture and may be right or wrong. It's easy enough to make up a story to fit the facts.”