The numbered counters were the characteristic feature of the case which appealed most strongly to the popular imagination. Inexplicable murders were common enough, even murders in which no motive or criminal had ever been found. But a series of murders, each prefixed by a definite warning, were an entirely novel sensation. The theory of the counters was publicly discussed from every possible point of view, without any really satisfactory theory being arrived at. Quite a large proportion of the population of London opened their morning papers in expectation of finding news of the delivery of counter number V .

The news, when it came, illustrated the hold which the subject had upon men’s minds, and the moral effect which it has produced. Mr. Ludgrove read the story as he consumed his frugal breakfast, and he was not surprised to hear Mr. Copperdock’s voice in the shop a few minutes later.