EXTRACT FROM O. J. L.'S SITTING WITH MRS. LEONARD,
FRIDAY, 28 JANUARY 1916
He has met somebody called E., Raymond has. He doesn't know who it is, but wonders if you do.
O. J. L.—Is she an old lady?
It's a man, he says. He was drownded. I have helped him a bit, at least I tried, he says. He passed on before Raymond did.
O. J. L.—Did he drown himself?
Raymond doesn't say that. His name was E. He was from Scotland. You will know his father.
Raymond says, I have got a motive in this, father; I don't want to say too much, and I don't want to say too little. You have met E.'s father, and you will meet him again; he comes from Scotland. Raymond is not quite certain, but he thinks he is in Scotland now. His father's name begins with an A, so the other man is E. A. He was fighting his ship. Raymond thinks they was all drownded. He's older than Raymond. Raymond says he's a pretty dark chap. You know his father best, I don't know whether you knew the other chap at all. You have known his father for some years, but you don't often get a chance of meeting. I have got an idea that you will be hearing from him soon. Then you will be able to unload this onto him. They are trying to bring it about, that meeting with the father of E.
O. J. L.—I could make a guess at the surname, but perhaps I had better not.
No, don't. You know I'm not always sure of my facts. I know pretty well how things are, and I think I am pretty safe in saying that it is Scotland. He gives D. also. That's not a person, it's a place. Some place not far from it, called D., he says. It's near, not the place, where he lives. 'Flanked,' he calls it, 'flanked' on the other side by L. They never knew how E. passed on really. They know he was drowned, but not how it happened.