"I should be telling an untruth if I said I had not.

Nothing is more repugnant to me than to deceive anybody." "That I can imagine," said Tarling.
"I am sorry you are sarcastic, Mr.Tarling," said the reproachful Milburgh, "but I assure you that I hate and loathe an untruth." "Where have you seen these papers ?" "On Mr.Lyne's desk," was the surprising answer "On Lyne's desk ?" Milburgh nodded.
"The late Mr.Thornton Lyne," he said, "came back from the East with a great number of curios, and amongst them were a number of slips of paper covered with Chinese characters similar to this.

I do not understand Chinese," he said, "because I have never had occasion to go to China.

The characters may have been different one from the other, but to my unsophisticated eye they all look alike." "You've seen these slips on Lyne's desk ?" said Tarling.

"Then why did you not tell the police before?
You know that the police attach a great deal of importance to the discovery of one of these things in the dead man's pocket ?" Mr.Milburgh nodded.
"It is perfectly true that I did not mention the fact to the police," he said, "but you understand Mr.Tarling that I was very much upset by the sad occurrence, which drove everything else out of my mind.