"But you and Lady Chepstow may accept my assurance that Captain Hawksley is not the man.

The writer of this letter belongs to the criminal classes; he is on his guard against the danger of finger-prints, and he wore rubber gloves when he penned this message.

When I find him, rest assured I shall find a man who has had dealings with the police before and whose finger-prints are on their records.

I don't know what his game is nor what he's after yet, but I will inside of a week.

I've an idea; but it's so wild a thing I'm almost afraid to trust myself to believe it possible until I stumble over something that points the same way.