“But your photograph, sir?”
“Oh yes. He said that in that book I should find a picture from one of the illustrated weeklies showing myself as one of the many guests at some public dinner or other. Of course it was very small, but it was undoubtedly myself, and enlargements are very easy to procure.”
“Glory, that was neat,” said Peary.
“He really was very illuminating about the Criminal’s Handbook,” said Harrison. “He said I should find a cutting giving all the necessary information about the drug which he gave to Lewis Cant. It was from a newspaper with a very large, popular circulation and all the facts were there.”
“Surprising,” said Bonnington.
“Another cutting,” Harrison went on, “from a similar newspaper recorded a speech denouncing the drinking of methylated spirits. The good person who made it also explained in detail how one could neutralise the unpleasant taste. It may have been a shocking warning as to how easily it could be done, but it was a definite hint to Sleet how to do it. In fact, almost the last thing Sleet said to me was ‘You see, Mr. Harrison, I am entitled to blame the freedom of the Press for my downfall!’”
“And do you agree?” asked Peary.
“All I can say is,” answered Harrison, “that, in this one instance, Mr. Sleet is far too modest about himself.”
THE END
The Last Word
The reader who has generously persisted to this point may be interested to know that, as I wrote the final pages of Clay Harrison’s latest adventure, I read the following paragraph in one of our brightest and largest-circulationed newspapers:
“A new theory that —— was murdered by a temporarily demented man, such as a methylated spirit addict, is now strongly held by the police here.”
First published in the United Kingdom in 1935 by Thornton Butterworth, Ltd.
This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2016 by
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
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Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2DU
United Kingdom
Copyright © 1935 by Clifton Robbins
The moral right of Clifton Robbins to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781911420217
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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