On his way up to his room Peter stopped by the little hall table , and riffled through the various bits of mail that lay there . There was one addressed to him , which he took up with him.

Disposing of the tape measure , and putting the rolled sheets of plastic by the wall inside the door , he sat on the bed and stared , a trifle disconsolately , at the envelope . Raising it to his nostrils , he sniffed . It was quite heavily scented , but with a different perfume from that which he had found on the previous envelope . He took the earlier missive from where he had stowed it and compared the writing on the two.

-- Huh , he grunted to himself .

-- Now that's funny . Different scent , and it's either a different writer or someone who's disguising her hand .

He took it for granted , because of the scent and because of the first letter's content , that it was from a female but whether old or young he could not tell.

With an exasperated sigh, he opened the envelope carefully , slid out the enclosed sheet of paper and read what was written there .

-- Oh bugger ! He issued the mild expletive .

He sat on the bed , hands drooping between his knees , with the envelope and letter hanging loosely from them , while he thought about what he might do .

Certainly he would take the letters up to show Helen , but he wondered if Jane might make something of them. She might not be a part of the overall Village crowd , but she had been living there longer than Helen for a start. She might know of similar occurrences from the past , and be able to clue him in on the origins of the mail.

After the business of the old photographs , he was reluctant to go to the Post Office and ask Doris had she noticed anything , something about who might have posted them. Still, he thought that if that was a last resort , he might try it . But definitely , Jane first . Just as in the situation with Helen , he felt that he could place his trust in her good sense and intelligence .

He knew that Jane would most likely still be working at the back of her shop , so taking both letters , he walked there through the late evening . The shop was not open for business at that hour , but he could hear the wheel going as she potted , so he knocked . She peered out from the back room , nipped across to open the door , and said :

-- Come on in . Come out the back while I finish with this . And she hurried ahead of him .

Peter stood in the doorway and watched with admiration as her deft hands went about the business of shaping a simple pot. There was something quite sensuous about the movements as the wheel spun and she caressed the clay into an elegant shape.

-- Look , he said , it's pretty obvious that you're going to be a while with that ,and I 'd think you need to do a bit of cleaning up when this is finished .

-- Yes, I will be a while , said Jane .

-- What is it that you want doing ? Can't you tell me while I work ?

Peter placed the two envelopes on a clean spot on the workbench .

-- No , I can't really . You'll need to see what's in these . It's easier than explaining I'd be grateful if you took a peek at them . I'm a bit embarrassed about asking , but you might have a better idea of what's going on than either Helen or I .

Jane cocked an eyebrow at him .

-- Are they what I'm guessing at ? I can smell the perfume from here !

-- Whoever it is has laid it on pretty thick , agreed Peter .

-- And please , Jane , remember -- these came out of the blue and I haven't a clue about who sent them or what they are after .

-- Oho , who's a bashful boy then ?

-- Bashful be blowed , spluttered Peter.

-- I've never had anything like this happen to me before . Look , I'll just leave them with you for now , and nick off home. Read them and see if you can identify anything that will clue me in to who's sending them.

If I get a chance I'll pick them up tomorrow and talk them over with you then . Is that okay ?

Jane smiled benignly and said , with a slight touch of mockery :

-- I shall put on my best horn-rimmed spectacles and read them with a detached and critical interest . Who knows , they might inspire me to write novel !

-- Detached and critical my ... Peter stopped short of a profanity , then relaxed .

-- Take it easy on a bloke , will you ?

And as soon as Jane nodded a smiling assent , he gave her a wave and left the shop , wondering just a little if he had done the right thing giving her the letters.