CHAPTER FOURTEENNo Deal
Venner didn’t move or turn his eyes away; but after a short pause he suddenly took a hand out of a pocket; there was a cigarette case in his fingers. He opened it, took out a cigarette, felt in the pocket for a lighter, and bent his head to get a light. When the cigarette was going, he asked casually: “May I ask a question? It’s legitimate when there’s something of this kind offered for sale. Where did the envelope come from?”
“We know where it came from originally,” said Gamadge. “From the rosewood box in the Coldfield attic. You’ll be rather disgusted, I’m afraid—it seems to have been overlooked when the letters were taken.”
Venner, his eyes on his cigarette and a faint smile deepening the creases beside his mouth, slowly and slightly moved his head from left t
