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Oh!" Mr. Carter was a little nonplussed.

Sir James smiled, and stroked his chin.

He rang me up," he volunteered.

Would you have any objection to telling us exactly what passed between you?"

Not at all. He thanked me for a certain letter which I had written to him--as a

matter of fact, I had offered him a job. Then he reminded me of something I had

said to him at Manchester respecting that bogus telegram which lured Miss

Cowley away. I asked him if anything untoward had occurred. He said it had--

that in a drawer in Mr. Hersheimmer's room he had discovered a photograph."

The lawyer paused, then continued: "I asked him if the photograph bore the name

and address of a Californian photographer. He replied: 'You're on to it, sir. It had.'

Then he went on to tell me something I DIDN'T know. The original of that

photograph was the French girl, Annette, who saved his life."

What?"

Exactly. I asked the young man with some curiosity what he had done with the

photograph. He replied that he had put it back where he found it." The lawyer

paused again. "That was good, you know--distinctly good. He can use his brains,

that young fellow. I congratulated him. The discovery was a providential one. Of

course, from the moment that the girl in Manchester was proved to be a plant

everything was altered. Young Beresford saw that for himself without my having

to tell it him. But he felt he couldn't trust his judgment on the subject of Miss

Cowley. Did I think she was alive? I told him, duly weighing the evidence, that

there was a very decided chance in favour of it. That brought us back to the

telegram."

"Yes?"

"I advised him to apply to you for a copy of the original wire. It had occurred to

me as probable that, after Miss Cowley flung it on the floor, certain words might

have been erased and altered with the express intention of setting searchers on a

false trail."

Carter nodded. He took a sheet from his pocket, and read aloud:

Come at once, Astley Priors, Gatehouse, Kent. Great developments--TOMMY."

The Secret Adversary