Thompson was writing her letter to
Tally-ho, and that the letter would be posted presently. In about an
hour or so, out came the little girl again, with the letter in her hand.
I went up, and said something to the child, whatever it might have been;
but I couldn’t see the direction of the letter, because she held it with
the seal upwards. However, I observed that on the back of the letter
there was what we call a kiss—a drop of wax by the side of the seal—and
again, you understand, that was enough for me. I saw her post the
letter, waited till she was gone, then went into the shop, and asked to
see the Master. When he came out, I told him, “Now, I’m an Officer in
the Detective Force; there’s a letter with a kiss been posted here just
now, for a man that I’m in search of; and what I have to ask of you, is,
that you will let me look at the direction of that letter.” He was very
civil—took a lot of letters from the box in the window—shook ’em out on
the counter with the faces downwards—and there among ’em was the
identical letter with the kiss. It was directed, Mr. Thomas Pigeon, Post
Office, B—, to be left till called for. Down I went to B— (a hundred and
twenty miles or so) that night. Early next morning I went to the Post
Office; saw the gentleman in charge of that department; told him who I
was; and that my object was to see, and track, the party that should come
for the letter for Mr. Thomas Pigeon. He was very polite, and said, “You
shall have every assistance we can give you; you can wait inside the
office; and we’ll take care to let you know when anybody comes for the
letter.” Well, I waited there three days, and began to think that nobody
ever would come. At last the clerk whispered to me, “Here! Detective!
Somebody’s come for the letter!” “Keep him a minute,” said I, and I ran
round to the outside of the office. There I saw a young chap with the
appearance of an Ostler, holding a horse by the bridle—stretching the
bridle across the pavement, while he waited at the Post Office Window for
the letter. I began to pat the horse, and that; and I said to the boy,
“Why, this is Mr. Jones’s Mare!” “No. It an’t.” “No?” said I. “She’s
very like Mr. Jones’s Mare!” “She an’t Mr. Jones’s Mare, anyhow,” says
he. “It’s Mr. So and So’s, of the Warwick Arms.” And up he jumped, and
off he went—letter and all. I got a cab, followed on the box, and was so
quick after him that I came into the stable-yard of the Warwick Arms, by
one gate, just as he came in by another. I went into the bar, where
there was a young woman serving, and called for a glass of
brandy-and-water. He came in directly, and handed her the letter. She
casually looked at it, without saying anything, and stuck it up behind
the glass over the chimney-piece. What was to be done next?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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