"You don’t think there’s any possibility that you could have been mistaken—that it might have been some other young woman who resembled Miss Worthington?" asked Owen.
"No; I’m positive, Mr. Sheridan. I know her well. You know I had that delivery route for six weeks last summer, while Smithers was sick, and I saw her, of course, every day when I called at the real-estate office with the mail, so I couldn’t be mistaken."
Owen nodded gloomily. "That’s right, Pop; I recall, now, that you had that route while Smithers was laid up. As you say, you ought to know her. Now, I want you to tell me, Pop, exactly what passed between you when she asked for that letter. Give me every word of the conversation as near as you can remember it."
"Very good, sir," said the old man. "Well, to begin at the very beginning, the young lady was pacing up and down in front of the letter box in a very nervous manner, as I came along. When I went to open the box, she touched my arm, and said: ‘I just dropped a letter in here, which I’d like to get back. I’ve changed my mind about sending it.’ ‘Excuse me, miss,’ I said, ‘but before you go any further let me tell you that us carriers are not allowed to hand back anything that has been mailed. Its strictly against the rules,’ I says. ‘The only way you can get your letter is by going around to the post office and seeing the superintendent. He can let you have it if he wants to; the rules give him that right; but I can’t.’"
"And what did she say to that?" inquired Owen eagerly.[Pg 52]
"She said that she didn’t care to go around to see the superintendent; that she didn’t think he’d do her the favor, and she began to plead and beg, saying that if I knew how very much it meant to her to get that letter back, she was sure that I wouldn’t refuse her."
"Didn’t she tell you what was in the letter?" asked Owen. "Surely she must have mentioned something as to the nature of its contents, Pop?"
"No, sir; she didn’t. She merely said it was a very important letter, and that it would do a terrible lot of harm if it went through the mail. And she said, also, that she could pick the letter out without giving me any trouble, because it was in a pink envelope, and square-shaped."
"Square-shaped!" repeated Owen, turning eagerly to Superintendent Henderson, who sat listening to this conversation. "Then that goes to prove that——”
"I believe I forgot to mention, Mr. Inspector, that according to Mr. Sammis and his clergyman friend, the letter which they dropped into the box, and which is now missing, was also in a square envelope," interrupted the superintendent.