“You mentioned a sister, I believe.”

“Yes-my sister Mabel.”

“A younger sister?”

“No, five years older. She married young, and my father made a settlement on her then.”

“He did not leave her anything more in his will?”

“No.”

“And was she satisfied?”

Miss Treherne bit her lip. She said,

“There was no quarrel. My father did not expect his will to please everyone, but he had his own reasons for what he did.”

Miss Silver coughed slightly.

“People’s reasons so seldom appeal to relatives.” she remarked. “Pray continue, Miss Treherne. You said your sister was married. Has she any family and were they staying with you at the time of these occurrences?”

“Yes. Mabel is not very strong. She had been with me all through August. Her husband, Ernest Wadlow, was coming down for the week-ends. He is a writer-travel, biography, that sort of thing. Their two children were also coming down for the week-ends. Maurice, who is twenty-three, is reading for the Bar, and Cherry, who is nineteen, is engaged in having a good time. The other guests were my young cousin, Richard Treherne, who is a grandson of my father’s brother; a first cousin on my father’s side, Miss Ella Comperton-she has a little flat in town, but she is always very pleased to get away from it; a first cousin on my mother’s side, Cosmo Frith; and his young cousin and mine, Caroline Ponsonby-”

“One moment,” said Miss Silver. “Which, if any, of these relatives were staying with you on the dates upon which you received the three anonymous letters?”

“None of them,” said Rachel Treherne, “except my sister Mabel. She was with me all through August and September, but the others only came down for the week-ends.”