“I see no reason why I should not show the letters to you now!” he exclaimed. “I feel certain the originals will be submitted for your inspection at the Home Office. I, of course, have only a set of facsimiles.”
The doctor’s face, which had been very grave, livened into eager curiosity.
Mr. Kentworthy came up to the writing table.
“This was the first letter. It was not addressed to the Home Office. It was sent to Scotland Yard.”
While he was speaking he had put his hand over the sheet of paper; now he lifted it, and Dr. Maclean saw a large sheet of paper marked I. Drawn in pencil was a curious conventional design, under which ran the words—“Water-mark of the original (foreign) paper.”
Then, written in block letters in very black ink, he read the following:
THE WRITER FEELS IT HIS DUTY TO DRAW THE ATTENTION OF THE HEAD COMMISSIONER OF POLICE TO CERTAIN MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE DEATH, ON THE 28TH OF LAST MAY, OF MRS. EMILY GARLETT AT THE THATCHED HOUSE, TERRIFORD VILLAGE. MRS. GARLETT WAS THE WIFE OF HENRY GARLETT, OWNER AND MANAGING-DIRECTOR OF THE WELL-KNOWN GRENDON ETNA CHINA FACTORY. THOUGH THE DEATH WAS VERY SUDDEN, NO INQUEST WAS HELD.
“This reads like a man’s letter,” observed Dr. Maclean.
“It was meant to read like a man’s letter,” said Mr. Kentworthy. “But we believe it to be the work of an educated woman.”
The doctor went on staring at the sinister epistle. What dread secret of love or hate—or was it only poisonous malice—lay behind these roughly ink-printed words?