“So you got my letter?” The woman flashed a furious glance to Labar. “This man said that he had intercepted it.”

Larry flung up a deprecating hand. “Leave this to me, Adèle. Our Mr. Labar is a truthful man.” He broke into a snatch of song. “ ‘He always tries to utter lies and every time he fails.’ Mr. Labar did me the honour to tamper with my correspondence. Unfortunately his minions, who should have known better, resealed the letter rather hastily. A suspicious man like myself applied the lessons of Scotland Yard and dusted the note with graphite. That developed a man’s thumb mark. I felt sure, my dear Adèle, that you would not have shown so intimate a letter to any person, and, my dear Watson”⁠—he smiled triumphantly at the inspector⁠—“I drew the conclusion that Mr. Labar would hotfoot it down here. And I followed.”