us evening, it was not delivered at Hewitt's office till the
morning, in accordance with the ancient manners and customs observed in
the telegraphic system of this country. It had been despatched from
Throckham, in Middlesex, and it was simply a very urgently worded
request to Hewitt to come at once, signed "Claire Peytral." The second
telegram, which came even as Hewitt was reading the first, on his
arrival at his office, ran thus:--

/#
"Did you receive telegram? See newspapers. Matter life or death.
Would come personally but cannot leave mother. Pray
answer.--<sc>Peytral</sc>."
#/

The answer went instantly that Hewitt would come by the next train, for
he had seen the morning paper and from that knew the urgency of the
case. But a consultation of the railway guide showed that trains to
Throckham were fewer than one might suppose, considering the proximity
of the village to London, and that the next would leave in about an hour
and a quarter; so that I saw Hewitt before he started. He came up to my
rooms, in fact, as I was beginning to breakfast.

"See here," he said, "I am sent for in the Throckham case. Have you seen
the report?"

As a leader writer, I had little business with the news side of my
paper, and indeed I had no more than a vague recollection of some such
heading as: "Tragedy in a barn," in one evening paper of the day before,
and "Murder at Throckham" in another. So I could claim no very exact
knowledge of the affair.

"Here you have a paper, I see," Hewitt said, reaching for it. "Perhaps
their report is fuller than that in mine." He gave me his own newspaper
and began searching in the other. "No," he said presently, "much the
same. News agency report to both papers, no doubt."

The report which I read ran as follows:--

/#
"<sc>Singular Tragedy</sc>.--An extraordinary occurrence is reported from
Throckham, a small village within fifteen miles of London,
involving a tragic fatality that has led to a charge of murder. On
Thursday evening an old barn, for some time disused, was discovered
to be on fire, and it was only by extraordinary exertions on the
part of the villagers that the fire was extinguished. Upon an
examination of the place yesterday morning the body of Mr. Victor
Peytral, a gentleman who had lived in the neighbourhood for some
time, and who had been missing since shortly before the discovery
of the fire, was found in