Dorothy's Double. Volume 1 (of 3)Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
Dorothy's Double. Volume 1 (of 3)
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction
'That is rather my opinion too, Dorothy; still, it is clear that he must
be told either by you or me. However, there is no occasion to tell him
to-day. A flower show is not the place you would choose for the purpose,
even if you had not Mary Daintree with you. We shall see if another
letter comes or not; if it does he must be told at once.'
Dorothy looked a little relieved at the necessity for telling Lord
Halliburn being postponed for the day.
'It is of no use worrying over it, my dear,' her father said kindly. 'It
is an annoyance, there is no denying, but it is nothing to fret over,
and as the insinuations are a pack of lies the cloud will blow away
before long.'
The next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, Mr. Hawtrey drove to
the central post office, where the postal authorities had promised the
day before that they would retain any communications of the kind he
described. He had been introduced to the official in charge of the
department where complaints of stolen letters were investigated and
followed up.
'I have an envelope for you, Mr. Hawtrey,' that gentleman said, when he
entered, 'and have been more fortunate than I expected, for I can tell
you where it was posted; it was dropped into the letter-box at No. 35
Claymore Street, Chelsea. It is a grocer's shop. In tying up the bundles
the man's eye fell on this; it struck him at once as being an attempt to
annoy or extort money, and he had the good sense to put it into an
envelope and send it on here with a line of explanation, so as to leave
us the option of detaining it if we thought fit.'
'I am very pleased to hear it,' Mr. Hawtrey said. 'It is a great thing
to know there is at least one point from which we can make a start.'
'It is not much, but it may assist you. You must remember, however, that
it is scarcely likely that the next letter will be posted at the same
office; fellows of this kind are generally pretty cautious, and the next
letter may come from another part of London altogether. I have sent a
note to the man at this post office, telling him that he did right in
stopping the letter, and that he is to similarly detain any others of
the same kind that may be posted there. I will send them on to you. The
men on your round have been already ordered not to deliver any letters
of the kind, but to send them back here. I sincerely hope, Mr. Hawtrey,
that you may succeed in getting hold of the fellow, but if you do I am
afraid it will not be through our department; the chances against
detecting a man posting a thing of this kind are almost infinite.'
It was just half past ten when Mr. Hawtrey reached Danvers' chambers. He
found that the occupier had not yet gone to the Court.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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