“There were a lot of small things falling due, and I knew that I hadn’t the means to meet them. One day I saw my husband’s chequebook lying on a desk and the thought of taking money from his account came to me. So I traced his writing. I must have been mad, but it all happened before I realised what I was doing. Then I changed the cheque and became frightened as I saw the trouble I was likely to land into. I came down here, but the more I thought of it the more frightened I became. I knew of you, and had had you pointed out to me at one or two places. I thought that if I gave you one of the hundred pound notes, and you used it, if it ever came to you to handle an investigation into the business you would understand that you had part of the money and wouldn’t push it too far.”

“Half a second,” he interrupted. “This extraordinary way you used to pass me the money. Do I understand that you intended that I shouldn’t know from whom it came, until I was brought into the case? Then I should find out from the numbers of the notes that I had become implicated, and should have my hands tied.”