So John walked on to the station with a strange feeling of lightness in the head and pain in his heart. At Hammersmith there was no copy of I Say

“We are entitled to ask⁠—What are the police doing? The matter has faded now from the public memory⁠—has it faded from theirs? It is certain that it has not faded in the loyal hearts of the Gaunt family. At the time of the inquest the public were preoccupied with national events of the first importance, and the murder did not excite the attention it deserved. We have only too good reason to believe that our Criminal Investigation mandarins, supine as ever until they are goaded to activity by the spur of popular opinion, are taking advantage of that circumstance to allow this piece of blackguardly wickedness to sink forever into oblivion. We do not intend that it should sink into oblivion, etc. etc. ”

But in the tail of the article lay the personal sting, cleverly concealed.