"It is faintly but evenly discoloured and, to me, has the appearance of having been soaked in water.

Let us, for the moment, assume that it has been.

That would look as if it had been removed from some other package, which again would suggest that the person using it had only the one slip, which he had soaked off the original package, dried, cut down and pasted on the present label.

If he pasted it on before typing the address--which he would most probably have done--he might well be unwilling to risk destroying it by soaking it a second time." "You think, then, there is a suspicion that the package may have been tampered with ?" "There is no need to jump to conclusions," replied Thorndyke.

"I merely gave this case as an instance showing that careful examination of the outside of a package or letter may lead us to bestow a little extra attention on the contents.