Just as I was half-way out of the room , I accidentally bumped into Mrs Jamie ,  family lawyer from Australia. She was holding an empty glass in one hand and a Chinese paper fan in the other. Without need to guess , she was coming to fill up her cup in the dining room. She seemed like an amiable and trusting lady from the first glance , so I softly tugged her hand as she was entering the room.

I was then left standing by myself on the staircase with the envelope. My first thought was to ran after Mrs Smith and asked for for the explanation but I decided against it immediately. It seemed to me that she was clearly frightened out of her mind by the envelope I was holding. So I came back down to the lobby and then to the dining room to inquire whether any of my fellow guests could shed any lights on the matter.

The dinner started after the last of the guests had been seated. It was almost 30 min after I first stepped into the dining room and by then I was in full conversation with some of the guests who had arrived earlier. In total , there were 15 guests as I was told there were a few of them who left for the mainland that evening for personal issues and would be returning the next morning.