able," he said, "I suppose there's no hope of connecting
him and his gang with the death of Hanson?"

"Not a ghost of a hope, I am afraid," said Stafford, shaking his head.
"Hanson was undoubtedly murdered, and the poison which killed him was in
the glass of water which the usher brought. I've been examining the
usher again to-day, and all he can remember is that he saw somebody
pushing through the crowd at the back of the court, who handed the glass
over the heads of the people. Nobody seems to have seen the man who
passed it. That was the method by which the gang got rid of their
traitor."

"Clever," said Sir Stanley, putting his finger-tips together. "They knew
just the condition of mind in which Hanson would be when he came into
court. They had the dope ready, and they knew that the detectives would
allow the usher to bring the man water, when they would not allow
anybody else to approach him. This is a pretty bad business, Stafford."

"I realise that," said the young chief. "Of course, I shall resign.
There's nothing else to do. I thought we had him this time, especially
with the evidence we had in relation to the Spillsbury case."

"You mean the letter which Spillsbury wrote to the woman Marsh? How did
that come, by the way?"

"It reached Scotland Yard by post."

"Do you know who sent it?"

"There was no covering note at all," replied Stafford. "It was in a
plain envelope with a typewritten address and was sent to me personally.
The letter, of course, was valueless by itself."

"Have you made any search to discover the documents which Hanson spoke
about?"

"We have searched everywhere," said the other a little wearily, "but it
is a pretty hopeless business looking through London for a handful of
documents. Anyway, friend Boundary is free."

The other was watching him closely.

"It is a bitter disappointment to you, my young friend," he said;
"you've been working on the case for years. I fear you'll never have
another such chance of putting Boundary in the dock. He's got a lot of
public sympathy, too. Your thorough-paced rascal who escapes from the
hands of the police has always a large following amongst the public, and
I doubt whether the Home Secretary will sanction any further
proceedings, unless we have most convincing proof. What's this?"

Stafford had laid a letter on the table.

"My resignation," said that young man grimly.

The First Commissioner took up the envelope and tore it in four pie