esses of Inspector Val.

"I've read Poe, Gaboriau, and Conan Doyle," returned Inspector Val; "all
detectives have. They are amusing if not instructive. But to resume:
There is another reason why I'm certain a woman wrote this note. All the
writer knows the writer got from Storri. It's a long yarn; it must cover
in its transaction a dozen interviews between Storri and Mr. Harley. And
they were not interviews at which a third party was present. You will
see the truth of that the instant I mention it. No; Storri told the
whole tale to the writer of the note. Mr. Harley wouldn't tell it for
obvious reasons. Neither would he write it to you or anybody else; it is
the publication of it that he fears. Storri was the only one besides Mr.
Harley who knew of those French shares; or of Mr. Harley's imitation of
Storri's signature and the threats of arrest for forgery which Storri
made. It's as plain as the stars at night that Storri furnished the
information upon which this letter is based. Now whom would he tell? Not
a man; there would be nothing to gain and much to risk in that. A woman,
then? Sure; this fellow has been strutting and bragging to a woman. It
is the commonest weakness of the congenital criminal. It is his way of
swaggering and seeming powerful. But mark you: he never takes a woman
into dangerous confidences unless he thinks she loves him. Do you
follow? Storri has told this to a woman in whose love he believes."

"You reason well, at any rate," observed Richard.

"Yes, sir, I reason well," returned Inspector Val. "I have reasoned like
this a thousand times, and a thousand times I was right. To go on: I
agree with Storri; the woman does love him. Why does she write this
letter? Because she wants to break Storri's grip on Mr. Harley. On Mr.
Harley's account? No, she cares nothing for Mr. Harley. In a clash
between the two her sympathies would be with Storri, whom she loves. Now
the woman in telling a lie--the only one in the letter--has also told an
important truth. It is in her last sentence. She was thinking to throw
you off as to her sex, and went out of her way to do it. She was hunting
a chance to write 'man' and 'his' and at the same time not advise you of
her purpose. The 'man' and the 'his' were to be by way of incident. With
her mind on fooling you as to her sex, she was so wholly engaged that
she told an unwitting truth; she did write this letter in her own
service. One step further: The object of the lad