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It was quite brief, and was headed "Terrible Murder in Kent," the account being as follows: "A shocking crime was discovered yesterday morning at the little town of Woldhurst, which lies on the branch line from Halbury Junction. The discovery was made by a porter who was inspecting the carriages of the train which had just come in.
It was reply-paid, and ran thus: "Can you come here to-morrow to direct defence? Important case. All costs undertaken by us. Thorndyke's reply had been in the affirmative, and early on this present morning a further telegram evidently posted overnight had been delivered: "Shall leave for Woldhurst by 8.25 from Charing Cross. Will call for you if possible.
Thorndyke gazed absently at the blackened heap until an empty cattle-truck on the middle track hid it from view. This was succeeded by a line of goods-waggons, and these by a passenger coach, one compartment of which a first-class was closed up and sealed. The train now began to slow down rather suddenly, and a couple of minutes later we brought up in Woldhurst station.
He rapidly sketched a rough plan on a sheet of paper, and continued: "These were the conditions when the train was approaching Woldhurst: Here was the passenger-coach, here was the burning rick, and here was a cattle-truck. This steer was in that truck. Now my hypothesis is that at that time Miss Grant was standing with her head out of the off-side window, watching the burning rick.
Thorndyke considered these statements in silence, and presently fell into a brown study, from which he roused only as the train moved out of Shinglehurst station. "It would be about here that the murder was committed," said Mr. Stopford; "at least, between here and Woldhurst."
"Yes," answered Stopford, "they are on the line now, I believe at least, I saw a gang working near Woldhurst yesterday, and they are said to have set a rick on fire; I saw it smoking when I came down." "Indeed; and this middle line of rails is, I suppose, a sort of siding?" "Yes; they shunt the goods trains and empty trucks on to it. There are the remains of the rick still smouldering, you see."
The letters she eventually sent him, but refused absolutely to part with the locket. "Now, for the last month Harold has been staying at Halbury, making sketching excursions into the surrounding country, and yesterday morning he took the train to Shinglehurst, the third station from here, and the one before Woldhurst.
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