The Secret Adversary

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with the photograph. He replied that he had put it back where he found
it." The lawyer paused again. "That was good, you know--distinctly
good. He can use his brains, that young fellow. I congratulated him. The
discovery was a providential one. Of course, from the moment that the
girl in Manchester was proved to be a plant everything was altered.
Young Beresford saw that for himself without my having to tell it
him. But he felt he couldn't trust his judgment on the subject of
Miss Cowley. Did I think she was alive? I told him, duly weighing the
evidence, that there was a very decided chance in favour of it. That
brought us back to the telegram."

"Yes?"

"I advised him to apply to you for a copy of the original wire. It
had occurred to me as probable that, after Miss Cowley flung it on the
floor, certain words might have been erased and altered with the express
intention of setting searchers on a false trail."