Pagina 253 di 657

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?"

"The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the

third from London."

"From East London. What do you deduce from that?"

"They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship."

"Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that

the probability-the strong probability-is that the writer was on

board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the

case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and

its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days.

Does that suggest anything?"

"A greater distance to travel."