addressed in a woman's hand.
Barrymore had thought no more of the matter until a few weeks ago
when his wife was cleaning out Sir Charles's study, which had not
been touched since his death. She had found the ashes of a burned
letter in the back of the grate. The greater part was charred to pieces,
but the end of a page hung together, and the writing could still be
read. It had seemed like a postscript. The slip had crumbled to bits
when it was moved. Barrymore had no idea whether Sir Charles had
received any other letters in the same writing. All he guessed was
that if we could lay our hands upon that lady we should know more
about Sir Charles's death.
We challenged Barrymore as to why he had concealed this important
information. He replied that it was immediately after the discovery
