ain curious things happened. It was found that the letters
were all written on a particular kind of paper affected by Mrs.
Carstairs for scribbling unimportant notes--household orders and so
on--not by any means an uncommon paper, but still she was the only
person in the village who bought it regularly. Then the handwriting,
though it was scratchy and common-looking, did bear, in some words, a
faint, very faint resemblance to hers; and once, when Chloe was away on
a visit to Brighton, a letter came to the owner of Carr Hall, in the
valley yonder, which had been posted at Hove. Then, as she may have told
you, a trap was laid for her by some of the damned authorities"--he
spoke heatedly--"she was supplied with marked paper; and sure enough the
next letter which arrived was written on one of those identical sheets."

"But the servants--her servants would have had access to her paper?"

"Quite so; and that point was made much of by the defence. But when all
the household was examined, it didn't seem a feasible theory that any of
them was to blame."

"How many servants were there in the house?" Unconsciously Anstice's
manner was that of a doctor interrogating a patient, and Sir Richard
noted the fact with a quickly suppressed flicker of amusement.

"Four only. During Major Carstairs' absence Mrs. Carstairs wished to
live quietly; and her staff consisted of a cook--a young Frenchman whose
life Major Carstairs had once saved in a drunken brawl in Soho----"

"A Frenchman, eh?" Anstice habitually distrusted foreigners. "Mightn't
he have been the guilty person?"

"He only knew enough English to discuss the _menu_ with his mistress,"
answered Sir Richard. "Chloe used to make us laugh by relating his
mistakes; and even if he had wished to write the letters he could not
possibly have done it. Besides, he returned to France for his military
training in the very middle of all this, so he really can't be
suspected."

"Well." In fairness Anstice could not condemn the Frenchman. "Who else
was in the house?"

"A middle-aged housemaid who had lived with the Carstairs' all her life,
and whose character was quite above suspicion. As a matter of course her
writing was compared with that of the letters and was proved to have
none of the characteristics of the anonymous handwriting. For another
thing her sight was bad, and she couldn't write straight to save her
life."

"I see. And what of the other two?"

"One was a pretty young gi