Agatha was the first to burst into the study to see James Carter, his head bandaged, sitting by the fire nursing a brandy.

As he set his glass down and rose to greet her, a brown leather bag fell from his lap onto the floor with a thud.

“My dear fellow! Who did this to you?” Agatha asked helping James back into his chair.

“I have my suspicions that it was someone from inside the British Museum,” he said, retrieving the leather bag and clutching it tight to his chest. To Agatha, the bag looked as if it had once been covered in mud, its condition suggested it had been washed and dried in a hurry, leaving a thin residue of dried soil.”

After giving Sarah the rest of the day off to recover from her shock at seeing James Carter, Harriet now joined them in the study. “Sarah told me you arrived only moments after we had left for the court,”

“I’m sorry if I scared your maid, but you see I had no-one to turn to with Phoebe being detained.”

“She’s won’t be away for long Mr Carter,” said Agatha. “And from what we have seen this morning, you can rest assured that by the end of the week Phoebe will be a free woman. Now, Mr Carter tell us what happened!”

James Carter took a sip of his brandy and as its warm, comforting effect glowed inside him, relayed the events as they had occurred.

“After leaving you both, I decided to walk the relatively short distance to Farringdon... the rain that afternoon had cleared the air. So, I grasped the opportunity to take some exercise. Thinking about it, I would say I was followed, but was too pre-occupied with my thoughts to notice. 

“Farringdon is where you live, I presume Mr Carter?” asked Agatha.

“I have a small terraced house near the railway track, I’m a...