CHAPTER I

Sellathwaite, who in his time had been one of the best known men of the criminal investigation department, and, on retiring from its service, had set up a private inquiry office, had been down to York on business, and, on leaving for London by an early morning express, had armed himself for his 200 miles’ journey with a liberal provision of newspapers. He was one of those men who buy newspapers in profusion; a man who could extract something in the way of pleasure and interest from the columns of merely local journ…