The Caravan Crime by Fergus Hume — Read

After Lawson left the city he drove to Soho to report the result of his interview with Bollard to Mrs. Tremby. To his surprise the door of her office was locked, and a paper pinned thereto informed him and all callers that she would not return for five or six days. The young man was annoyed, since it seemed to him that it was unbusinesslike of Jossy to leave him in the lurch at the moment. However, there was nothing to be done at the moment by word of mouth, so he went back to his lodgings and wrote an explanatory letter. This he posted to the Soho address. thinking that he was something of an ass to do so, seeing that she was not there and would not be there for at least a week.

To his surprise once more--the first one having been when he discovered her absence--he received an answer by next day's evening post. Mrs. Tremby had read his statement concerning his visit to Bollard, and thanked him for having sent it so promptly. She added that, for reasons connected with the case in hand, which would take too long to explain by letter, she was obliged to go out of town. Dick wondered if she meant to make enquiries about the matter in Sarley Village, and had half a mind to follow her there, if, indeed, that was the goal of her journey. But all conjecture and decision to pursue was swept aside when he read the postscript to her original epistle. Women's postscripts are always significant, since a woman's last word usually means much more than dozens of the preceding ones. But this particular one puzzled the young man greatly, since it appeared to have nothing to do with anything in the letter. "Have you a dress suit?" wrote Jossy, in her large masculine caligraphy. "If not, get one--the smartest your means will allow."