I once took the trouble to have one of those requests examined.

It came from a gang of thieves in Chicago.' Lady Maud smiled, but did not seem surprised.
'Millionaires get lots of letters of that sort,' she said.

'Think of poor Mr.Van Torp!' Margaret moved uneasily at the name, which seemed to pursue her since she had left New York; but her present companion was the first person who had applied to him the adjective 'poor.' 'Do you know him well ?' she asked, by way of saying something.
Lady Maud was silent for a moment, and seemed to be considering the question.
'I had not meant to speak of him,' she answered presently.

'I like him, and from what you said at dinner I fancy that you don't, so we shall never agree about him.' 'Perhaps not,' said Margaret.

'But I really could not have answered that odious man's question in any other way, could I?
I meant to be quite truthful.