The Story Continued by Marian Halcombe

“Yes, I scraped away the sand on the surface, and in a little while I came to a strip of paper hidden beneath, which had writing on it. The writing was signed with Anne Catherick’s initials.” “Where is it?” “Sir Percival has taken it from me.” “Can you remember what the writing was? Do you think you can repeat it to me?” “In substance I can, Marian. It was very short. You would have remembered it, word for word.” “Try to tell me what the substance was before we go any further.” She complied. I write the lines down here exactly as she repeated them to me. They ran thus⁠— The reference to the “tall, stout old man” (the terms of which Laura was certain that she had repeated to me correctly) left no doubt as to who the intruder had been. I called to mind that I had told Sir Percival, in the Count’s presence the day before, that Laura had gone to the boathouse to look for her brooch. In all probability he had followed her there, in his officious way, to relieve her mind about the matter of the signature, immediately after he had mentioned the change in Sir Percival’s plans to me in the drawing-room. In this case he could only have got to the neighbourhood of the boathouse at the very moment when Anne Catherick discovered him. The suspiciously hurried manner in which she parted from Laura had no