LADY MOLLY OF SCOTLAND YARD
supremely comical, for my dear lady's rippling laugh went echoing through the bare, dull hotel sitting-room.
"You don't see it, Mary?" she asked gaily.
"I confess I don't," I replied. "It completely baffles me."
"And yet," she said more gravely, "those few silly paragraphs have given me the clue to the mysterious assault on Jane Turner, which has been puzzling our fellows at the Yard for over three weeks."
"But how? I don't understand."
"You will, Mary, directly we get back to town. During my morning walk I have learnt all that I want to know, and now these paragraphs have set my mind at rest."
3
The next day we were back in town.
Already, at Bristol, we had bought a London morning paper, which contained in its centre page a short notice under the following startling headlines:
THE SOMERSETSHIRE OUTRAGE
amazing discovery by the police
an unexpected clue
The article went on to say:
"We are officially informed that the police have recently obtained knowledge of certain facts which establish beyond a doubt the
118
