He opened it and took out a card.

There were only a few words written upon it, but they were sufficient to banish all the colour from his face and set his hands shaking.

He took the envelope and card and flung them into the fire.
It so happened that, at that moment, Mansus had called from upstairs, and the officer, who had been told off to keep the valet under observation, ran up in answer to the summons.

For a moment Fisher hesitated, then hatless and coatless as he was, he crept to the door, opened it, leaving it ajar behind him and darting down the steps, ran like a hare from the house.
The doctor, who came a little later, was cautious as to the hour of death.
"If you got your telephone message at 10.25, as you say, that was probably the hour he was killed," he said.

"I could not tell within half an hour.