CHAPTER III

AFTER MANY DAYS Armitage had decided to subscribe for Woodward’s Magazine; its promptness deserved recognition. Four days from the time he mailed the letter, consigned to its care, the answer was in his hands. He had glanced indifferently over his letters that morning when the maid brought up the mail, and then an unfamiliar chirography, flashing out of the unexciting pile, had challenged his attention. Instinctively he knew its source. Armitage attempted to forestall disappointment by the reflection that the write…