[Received by evening post, March 23, 1889. Envelope (properly sealed) addressed to Major Philip Rook at the Foreign Office, Whitehall. No indication of return address on the envelope. No indication of tampering between the time of sending and receipt by Major Rook.]  

March 23
 

Major Rook,

    Pursuant to your inquiries, I have located a suitable spot for your friend's offices. The location seems to fit your requirements insofar as I understand them, and the suite itself is, I should think, everything which could be required.

     What I have turned up is a modest suite of offices on the seventh floor of a ten-year-old building just at the corner of Lothbury and the Old Jewry [a very short block and a half northwest of the Bank of England]. The rent is quite reasonable, and the suite itself in excellent repair.

     The suite is subdivided into seven rooms, of which the largest two are back offices, ideal for your friend and his partner in the business. The next largest is intended as a reception room, with a hall behind leading to the remaining rooms. There are three more smallish offices, ideal for clerks and perhaps junior partners, and there is one mid-sized room which might serve for board meetings.

     The two larger offices are connected by a short private hallway, with amenities, which hall is not accessible from the rest of the suite. It also contains the door to a huge vault-safe, made by the Chubb co. and quite guaranteed against theft, fire, water, explosion, and even lightning. It is my own opinion that this safe might well serve even as a small office, so large are its dimensions. No side of the safe abuts onto the outside of the building; two sides abut the panelling of the large offices, and the door onto the private hallway. The top, bottom, and rear of the safe, which of course abut other suites and the more public areas of the office, are doubly thickened, and contain also a layer of very fine powdered glass; according to Mr. Virgil of the Chubb Co., this special layer means that any attempt to drill or explode through the surface will result in the would-be thief's being quite badly injured by the abrasive powder--an unpleasant but effective preventative. The lock of this safe requires two keys and a seven-digit combination. As I think you can see, my dear Major Rook, the security of this safe is impregnable.

     After extensive searching, I have engaged the services, pending your approval, of a secretary, one Mr. Q--. He was a Magdalen man, as I was myself, and is everything that could be wished in discretion, loyalty, and intelligence.

     Mr. Q-- will contact you shortly, and can show you about the offices, having keys. If he does not suit, he will tell me and I can find someone to replace him, but I feel confident that Mr. Q-- is just the man you want.

     Please do not hesitate in the slightest to contact me at once should you need what small assistance I can afford. Until then, I have the honor to remain,

Your servant
James Brown