now, for such a case as the one which has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster all our resources. kindly hand me down the letter k of the american encyclopædia which stands upon the shelf beside you. thank you. now let us consider the situation and see what may be deduced from it. in the first place, we may start with a strong presumption that colonel openshaw had some very strong reason for leaving america. men at his time of life do not change all their habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of florida for the lonely life of an english provincial town. his extreme love of solitude in england suggests the idea that he was in fear of someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from america. as to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by considering the formidable letters which were received by himself and his successors. did you remark the postmarks of those letters?"