time been so intimate with Miss Sarah that she had actually gone
up to Liverpool to be near the Browners, but a quarrel had afterwards
divided them. This quarrel had put a stop to all communications for
some months, so that if Browner had occasion to address a packet to
Miss Sarah, he would undoubtedly have done so to her old address.

"And now the matter had begun to straighten itself out wonderfully. We
had learned of the existence of this steward, an impulsive man, of
strong passions--you remember that he threw up what must have been a
very superior berth in order to be nearer to his wife--subject, too, to
occasional fits of hard drinking. We had reason to believe that his
wife had been murdered, and that a man--presumably a seafaring man--had
been murdered at the same time. Jealousy, of course, at once suggests
itself as the motive for the crime. And why should these proofs of the
deed be sent to Miss Sarah Cushing? Probably because during her
residence in Liverpool she had some hand in bringing about the events
which led to the tragedy. You will observe that this line of boats
call at Belfast, Dublin, and Waterford; so that, presuming that Browner
had committed the deed and had embarked at once upon his steamer, the
May Day, Belfast would be the first place at which he could post his
terrible packet.

"A second solution was at this stage obviously possible, and although I
thought it exceedingly unlikely, I was determined to elucidate it
before going further. An unsuccessful lover might have killed Mr. and
Mrs. Browner, and the male ear might have belonged to the husband.
There were many grave objections to this theory, but it was
conceivable. I therefore sent off a telegram to my friend Algar, of
the Liverpool force, and asked him to find out if Mrs. Browner were at
home, and if Browner had departed in the May Day. Then we went on to
Wallington to visit Miss Sarah.

"I was curious, in the first place, to see how far the family ear had
been reproduced in her. Then, of course, she might give us very
important information, but I was not sanguine that she would. She must
have heard of the business the day before, since all Croydon was
ringing with it, and she alone could have understood for whom the
packet was meant. If she had been willing to help justice she would
probably have communicated with the police already. However, it was
clearly our duty to see her, so we went. We found that the news of the