returned. It may have been a case of suicide. Get all the facts you can.
If you can obtain any information from some who were interested in the
tragedy, do. I am not sure that the result of your inquiries will
interest me, but it may. Send me along a full report, it may bring me
back to Chelsea, but I am so keen to put another fifty yards on to my
drive that I may remain here for three months. Why live in Chelsea when
there is such a place as Devonshire?"

I remembered that the Delverton case had caused a considerable amount of
excitement at the time, and had remained an unsolved mystery, but I knew
no more than this. Three years ago I had been away from London engaged on
an intricate investigation, with neither time nor inclination to think of
anything else.

As it happened there was little difficulty in getting a very full account
of the affair. It had been in the hands of Detective Southey, since
retired, and it was a persistent grievance with him that this case had
beaten him. He was delighted to talk about it when I went to see him in
his little riverside cottage at Twickenham.

Delverton Brothers were foreign bankers, and at the time of the tragedy
consisted of three partners, John and Martin Delverton, who were
brothers, and Thomas Farrell, their nephew. John Delverton was an
invalid, and for a year past had only come to the office for an hour once
or twice a week. He had died about six months after the tragedy.

One day during a Stock Exchange settlement Thomas Farrell left the office
early, and Martin Delverton was there until seven o'clock. When he left
the only clerks remaining in the outer office were Kellner, the second in
seniority on the staff, and a junior named Small.