put back into
my pocket. It occurred to me to have a look at it, by the light of a
street lamp near by; and the instant I had straightened out the small,
crumpled wad I guessed that here was a link in the mystery.

The paper was a leaf torn from a note-book and closely covered on both
sides with small, uneven writing done with a sharp black pencil. The
handwriting was that of an uneducated person, and was strange to me. I
could not make out the words by the light of the tall lamp, so I lit a
wax match from my match-box, and protecting the flame in the hollow of
my hand, began studying the strange message.

The three first words sent my heart up with a bound. "On board the
'Queen.'" I had crossed the Channel in the "Queen," and this beginning
alone was enough to make me hope that the bit of paper might do more
than any detective to unravel the mystery.

"I'm taking big risks because I've got to," I read on. "It's my
only chance. And if you find this, I bet I can trust you. You're
a gentleman, and you saved my life and a lot more besides by
getting into that railway-carriage when the other chaps did. The
minute I seen them I thot I was done for, but you stopped there
game. I'm a jewler's assistant, carrying property worth
thousands, for my employers. From the first I knew 'twas bound
to be a ticklish job. On this bote I'm safe, for the villions
who would have murdered and robbed me in the train if it hadn't
been for you being there, won't have a chance, but when I get to
Paris it will be the worst, and no hope for the jewls, followed
as I am, if I hadn't already thot of a plan to save them through
you, an honest gentleman far above temptashun. I know who you
are, for I've seen your photo in the papers. So, what I did was
this: to try a ventriloquist trick which has offen bin of use in
my carere, just as folks were on the boat's gangway. Thro'
making that disturbance, and a little skill I have got by doing
amatoor conjuring to amuse my wife and famly, I was able to slip
the case of my employer's jewls into your breast pocket without
your knowing. And I had to take away what you had in, not that I
wanted to rob one who had done good by me, but because if I'd
left it the double thickness would have surprised you and you
would probably have pulled out my case to see what it was. Then
my fat would have bin in the fire, with cert