the honour, sir, and your name didn't appear at
the Old Bailey."

Jevons laughed. He was never fond of seeing his name in print. He made
a study of the ways and methods of the criminal, but only for his own
gratification. The police knew him well, but he hid his light under
the proverbial bushel always.

"What is your own opinion of the affair, sir?" the officer continued,
ready to take his opinion before that of the sergeant of the Criminal
Investigation Department attached to his station.

"Well," said Ambler, "it looks like sudden death, doesn't it? Perhaps
it's poison."

"Suicide?"

"Murder, very possibly," was Jevons' quiet response.

"Then you really think there's a mystery, sir?" exclaimed the
constable quickly.

"It seems suspiciously like one. Let us search the room. Come along
Ralph," he added, addressing me. "Just lend a hand."

There was not much furniture in the place to search, and before long,
with the aid of the constable's lantern, we had investigated every
nook and cranny.

Only one discovery of note was made, and it was certainly a strange
one.

Beneath a loose board, near the fireplace, Jevons discovered the dead
man's hoard. It consisted of several papers carefully folded together.
We examined them, and found them to consist of a hawker's licence, a
receipt for the payment for a barrow and donkey, a post-office savings
bank book, showing a balance of twenty-six pounds four shillings, and
several letters from a correspondent unsigned. They were type-written,
in order that the handwriting should not be betrayed, and upon that
flimsy paper used in commercial offices. All of them were of the
highest interest. The first, read aloud by Ambler, ran as follows:--

_"Dear Lane,--I have known you a good many years, and never
thought you were such a fool as to neglect a good thing.
Surely you will reconsider the proposal I made to you the
night before last in the bar of the Elephant and Castle? You
once did me a very good turn long ago, and now I am in a
position to put a good remunerative bit of business in your
way. Yet you are timid that all may not turn out well!
Apparently you do not fully recognise the stake I hold in
the matter, and the fact that any exposure would mean ruin
to me. Surely I have far more to lose than you have.
Therefore that, in itself, should be sufficient guarantee to
you. Reconsider your reply, and give me y