But Random was detained in his quarters by a letter which had
arrived by the mid-day host, and which surprised him not a
little. The postmark was London, and the writing, evidently a
disguised hand, was almost illegible in its crudeness. The
contents ran as follows, and it will be noticed that there is
neither date nor address, and that it is written in the third
person:
"If Sir Frank Random wants his character to be cleared and all
suspicion of murder to be removed from him, he can be completely
exonerated by the writer, if he will pay the same five thousand
pounds. If Sir Frank Random is willing to do this, let him
appoint a meeting-place in London, and the writer will send a
messenger to receive the money and to hand over the proofs which
will clear Sir Frank Random. If Sir Frank Random plays the
writer false, or communicates with the police, proofs will be
forthcoming which will prove him to be guilty of Sidney Bolton's
death, and which will bring him to the scaffold without any
chance of escape. A couple of lines in the Agony Column of The
Daily Telegraph, signed `Artillery,' and appointing a
meeting-place, will suffice; but beware of treachery."
CHAPTER XXI
A STORY OF THE PAST
Mrs.
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