Then:
"Have I cultivated somnambulism!" he muttered.
Fragments of black sealing-wax adhered to the coin!
Incredulous and half fearful he peered at it closely. He remembered
that the impression upon the wax sealing the mysterious envelope had
had a circular depression in the centre. It had been made by the head
of the drawing-pin!
He found himself staring at the shelf immediately above that upon
which the coin had lain. A stick of black sealing-wax used for sealing
medicine was thrust in beside a bundle of long envelopes in which he
was accustomed to post his Infirmary reports!
One hand raised to his head, Stuart stood endeavouring to marshal his
ideas into some sane order. Then, knowing what he should find, he
raised the green baize curtain hanging from the lower shelf, which
concealed a sort of cupboard containing miscellaneous stores and not
a little rubbish, including a number of empty cardboard boxes.
A rectangular strip had been roughly cut from the lid of the topmost
box!
The mysterious envelope and its contents, the wax and the seal--all
had come from his own dispensary!
CHAPTER IX
THE CHINESE COIN
Deep in reflection, Stuart walked alone along the Embankment. The full
facts contained in the report form Paris the Commissioner had not
divulged, but Stuart concluded that this sudden activity was directly
due, not to the death of M. Max, but to the fact that he (Max) had
left behind him some more or less tangible clue.
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