Grant became aware that Mrs Tinker was showing Tad Cullen into the room, and that she must already have been in without his noticing because the envelope from the Yard was lying beside him on the desk.
‘Well?’ said Tad, his face still thunderous. ‘Where do we go from here?’
Grant pushed over the pages of Lloyd’s letter for him to read.
‘What’s all this?’
‘Read it.’
Tad took the thing up doubtfully, looked for a signature, and then fell on the manuscript. Grant put his thumb in the envelope from Cartwright and broke it open.
When Tad had finished he looked up with a shocked face and stared at Grant. When at last he spoke what he said was: ‘I feel dirty all over.’
‘Yes. It is an evil thing.’
‘Vanity.’
‘Yes.’