adder of The Vines, Swete Rowley, has handed us your
communication of the twenty-third inst._

_We are instructed to say that, while there is no doubt that its number
is LF 8057, Mr. Bladder's car did not leave the garage upon the day of
the accident in which you were concerned, for the reason that he and his
chauffeur were engaged in overhauling the engine._

_It is therefore obvious that a mistake has been made, and that unless
some other car was bearing his number, which you will agree is
improbable, in the natural confusion of the moment the letters or
figures or both upon the offender's number-plate were misread._

_Our client wishes us to add that, while the tone of your letter is not
such as he is accustomed to, he appreciates that it was written while
you were smarting under a sense of grave injury, and was indeed intended
for somebody other than himself._

_Yours faithfully,_

_BERTHEIM AND GROWTH._

This being the quarter in which the wind was sitting, we made our
dispositions accordingly.

So far as the number of the car was concerned, Daphne and Jonah never
wavered, and we were certain about its colour and style. Moreover, we
were all agreed that, while the back seat was empty, there were two
people in front, and that the one who was not driving was wearing a
chauffeur's dress. Finally, the village of Swete Rowley lay but some
twenty-two miles from the scene of the accident. But that was all. It
was, of course, unthinkable that the offending car could have sustained
no damage, but it was quite possible that it would have nothing more
serious to show than a dented hub-cap and a battered wing; and, while
hub-caps can be changed in five minutes, it is no great matter to
straighten a bent wing, and any traces of battery which still survive
can be unanswerably attributed to one or other of quite a variety of
innocent mishaps.

Inquiries were set afoot, and the moment we learned that Mr. Bladder in
fact possessed a large green high-powered touring car, which he was in
the habit of driving himself at a notorious pace, we threw down the
glove. Solicitors were instructed, counsel's opinion was taken, an
information was sworn before a Justice of the Peace, and within one week
of the date of his solicitors' letter, Mr. Douglas Bladder had become
the recipient of a writ for four hundred pounds damages and four
separate summonses under the Motor Car Acts. We were out for blood.

At Marvel's Police Court the de