"You have a prisoner here called Roger Mifflin?" I said.
"My dear Madam, I don't keep a list of all our inmates in my head. If you will come to the office we will look up the records."
I showed him the Governor's card. He took it and kept looking at it as though he expected to see the message written there change or fade away. We walked across a strip of lawn to the prison building. There, in a big bare office, he ran over a card index.
"Here we are," he said. "Roger Mifflin; age, 41; face, oval; complexion, florid; hair, red but not much of it; height, 64 inches; weight, stripped, 120; birthmark. …"
"Never mind," I said. "That's the man. What's he here for?"
"He's held in default of bail, pending trial. The charge is attempt to defraud one Helen McGill, spinster, age. …"
"Rubbish!" I said. "I'm Helen McGill, and the man made no attempt to defraud me."
"The charge was entered and warrant applied for by your brother, Andrew McGill, acting on your behalf."
