“I found it in the library,” replied the girl, “on the desk. It had got tucked away between two letter-trays—one fits into the other, you know.”
“I wondered how Jeekes had come to miss it,” said Robin. “But when was this?” he added.
“On Sunday afternoon.”
“But what were you doing in the library?”
The girl became a little embarrassed.
“I knew Mr. Manderton was suspicious of you. I heard him telephoning instructions to London to have you watched. So I thought I’d go to the library to see if I could find anything which would show what they had against you exactly. And I found this letter. Then I noticed some one hiding behind the curtains, and, as I had the letter in my hand, I hid it in my dress. When I discovered that Bruce Wright was after it too, I pretended I had found nothing ...”
“But, darling, why?”
“I wanted to make sure for myself why you had sent Bruce Wright, for I guessed he had come from you, to look for this letter. So I thought I’d go to Rotterdam to investigate ...”
Robin laughed affectionately.
“Surely it would have been simpler to have given the letter to the police ...”