"Quite a new turn has been given to the tragedy in Embankment Mansions,
full particulars of the discovery of which appear on an inside page.
Firstly, the valet Richardson has now had time to examine the body which
was found in Colonel Napier's bedroom, and he says unhesitatingly that
it is _not that of his master_ at all but of a stranger who at first
sight resembles him strongly. This view is borne out by two old friends
of Colonel Napier who have also seen the corpse--the Rev Richard
Jennings, the vicar of St Helen's, Palace Street, Westminster, and
Colonel Goring-Richmond, who some years ago was on the most intimate
terms with the deceased and spent the summer with him in the Austrian
Tyrol. Secondly, if this be true, there is no doubt that not only
Colonel Napier, but also his daughter Doris, have suddenly and
mysteriously disappeared. All their affairs, it seems, have been left
in the uttermost confusion, and it looks as though, if there has not
been foul play in their lives in one direction, there has been in
another. Close inquiries amongst their friends reveal no intention on
their part to be absent from home. Their servants also are astounded at
their disappearance, and all the machinery of their social life has been
brought suddenly to a standstill; while letters and telegrams of inquiry
and visits from friends, who have read accounts which purport to explain
Colonel's Napier's sudden demise, plunge their departure into a mingled
atmosphere of tragedy and mystery, which it seems impossible to-night to
break through. Meanwhile, everybody is asking: Who is the man who has
been found stabbed to death in Colonel Napier's bed? The police are
certainly powerless to explain; while common people dare not suggest a
most terrible answer which will occur to everybody who reads these lines
for fear of the law of libel."