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
'There is another of them,' Mr. Hawtrey said, throwing the letter down
before him. 'I got it at the central office.' It was in the same
handwriting as that on the previous day: 'Unless you agree to my terms
your letters will be sent to Lord H----.' 'The post-office people have
discovered that this letter was posted at a receiving office at Claymore
Street, Chelsea.'
'That would be valuable, Mr. Hawtrey, if there were any probability of
the next being posted at the same place. I could make an arrangement to
have a boy placed inside by the box so that he could see each letter as
it fell in. Then he would only have to run out and follow whoever had
posted it. I should probably require some special order from the
Postmaster-General for this, but I dare say I could get that. At any
rate, we can wait a day or two. If the next letter is posted there we
will try that plan; if it is posted elsewhere it will, of course, be
useless.'
Mr. Hawtrey next drove to Lord Halliburn's, in Park Lane.
'I have come on very unpleasant business, Halliburn,' he said. 'Dorothy
would have told you herself about it yesterday, but I thought it better
to let it stand over for a day, especially as she would not have an
opportunity of discussing it with you,' and he then laid the two letters
before him, and told him the steps he had taken and the conjectures that
he and Danvers had formed on the subject of the sender.
Lord Halliburn was a young man of about nine-and-twenty. He somewhat
prided himself on his self-possession, and, although generally liked,
was regarded, as Danvers had told his friend, as somewhat of a prig. His
face expressed some annoyance as he heard the story.
'It is certainly unpleasant,' he said. 'I am, of course, perfectly sure
that Dorothy is in no way to blame in the matter. This can be only a
malicious attempt to annoy her. Still, I admit it is annoying. Things of
this sort are sure to get about somehow. I am certain that everyone who
knows Dorothy will see the matter in the same light as we do, but those
who do not will conclude that there is something in it. Probably enough
ere long there will be a mysterious paragraph in one of those society
papers. Altogether it is certainly extremely annoying. The great thing
is to find out who sent them. I quite agree with you it cannot be an
attempt to extort money; had it been so, the demands would have been
sent under seal and not in this manner. I suppose you have no idea of
anyone having any special enmity against either you or her?'
'Not the slightest. The man who, as I told you, Danvers consulted
without mentioning any names, was of opinion that it might be the work
of some woman, and was intended to cause unpleasantness between you and
Dorothy. Of course, in that case you might be more able to form an idea
as to the writer than I can be.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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