ACTION BY THE SHERIFF
Mrs. Brace did not ask Hastings where he had got the fragment of grey envelope. She made no comment whatever.
He reversed the flap in his hand and showed her the inner side on which were, at first sight, meaningless lines and little smears. He explained that the letter must have been put into the envelope when the ink was still undried on the part of it that came in contact with the flap, and, the paper being of that rough-finish, spongy kind frequently affected by women, the flap had absorbed the undried ink pressed against it.
"Have you a hand-mirror?" he asked, breaking a long pause.
She brought one from the bedroom. Holding it before the envelope flap, he showed her the marks thus made legible. They were, on the first line: "—edly de—," with the first loop or curve of an "n" or an "m" following the "de"; and on the second line the one word "Pursuit!" the whole reproduction being this:
edly de
Pursuit!
"Does that writing mean anything to you, Mrs. Brace?" Hastings asked, keeping it in front of her.
She moved her left hand, a quiet gesture indicating her lack of further interest in the piece of paper.
"Nothing special," she said, "except that the top line seems to bear out what I've told you. It might be: 'repeatedly demanded'—I mean Mildred may have written that she had repeatedly demanded justice of him, something of that sort."
"Is it your daughter's writing?"