Chapter 28
DORA had returned to town, he learnt later in the day, when a note came from her asking him to call at Portland Place. As he fingered the envelope, he remembered the last letter he had received from the girl, and the extraordinary coincidence which had led Dicker to detect, through a thumbmark on the envelope, the identity of the dead Parker.
Mr. Coleman was out, Bennett told him as he admitted him to the house.
"This a terrible business, sir," said the new butler, "terrible! We seem to have nothing but trouble. I wish I'd been here when that man called this afternoon."
"Which man was that?" asked Jimmy absently.
"Nobody seems to know. Mr. Coleman said he was a stranger to him."
"What happened?"
"Mr. Coleman opened the door himself. In fact, he was just going out. And the
