The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-11-07
"That is certainly very singular" an.

swered Bruce.
 The draft, still in its original envelope was on the table. Bruce took it up with a view of examining the postmarks, bu, the moment his eve fell on the seal, which was still intact-Mr. Symes, in his busi. ness-hke way, having cut carefully round it with penknife when opening the en. velope-the expression of his counte. nance changed.
 When l posted this document, sir he said, turning to his father, " certainly did not notice tn 1t you had fastened il up with seal that had never seen be. fore"
 "Eh-whatp exclaimed the baronet " only sealed it with the seal always use"
 Bruce handed him the envelope with. out another word. Sir George put on his spectacles and crossed to the wiudow and examined the seal minutely. "Symes- Bruce" he excl imed presently in hol- low voice this envelope has been tam pered with This is no seal of mine; never saw 1t before"
 The three men looked at each other in conservation. On what folio we'd it is not needful that we should dwell. The whole affair was shrouded in mystery. The more they asked themselves who could possibly have done it, and what end the person who did it could have had in view, the more bewiidered they be- came. Alter long discussion, the only conclu sion they could arnve at was that the document must have been abstracted from the letter-bag-together probably with others-on the supposition that it contained notes or negotiable securities of some kind, and that when it was found to contain nothing of value, it had been resealed and forwarded to it's destination.
 Sir George was much pur out about the affair. It seemed to dwell in his mind even more than the fact of his son having been personated by some unknown scoundrel. It worried him and irritated him beyond measure
 But at the very time Mir. Symes was at the Towers another link in the same chain of circumstances was being forged elsewhere. On the same evening tha. the lawyer and Captain Wenlock dined to- gether, Harold Dare was dining at a friends house in the suburbs of London. The weather was very bad, and Harold, who hated discomfort of any kind, was easily persuaded into accepting a bed for the night. Next morning, on his way back to the office, he found that he had left his keys at home overnight, and was consequently compelled to drive round there ID the hanson he had engaged at the station On entering his rooms he was astounded to find that they had been broken into during his absence, and the who place rihed. He sent at once for the police, and while they were examin ing the premises, he proceeded to make out an inventory of the stolen property.
 If the burglars had expected to find much property of value in Harold's rooms, they must have been wofully disappointed, Harold was not rich enough to have much spare jewelry over and above that which he usually wore, but all that there was they had made clean sweep of. A couple of L5 notes, which had been ID a drawer Of his writing desk, were also missing But what he, perhaps, regretted more than all the rest was an old-fash- toned watch that had belonged to his father, diamond and pearl brooch that had been his mothers and-the amethyst seal.
 He enumerated each article that had been stolen. describing them as far as his memory served him, but when he handed the list to the police it was with rueful fore boding that he would never see or hear anything more of his property.
 On the morning of the B of December Ia n lnk& f Christmas at Wenlock Towers. He took halt-a-dozen newspapers with him in the train, and he amused himself on the way down by picking out and reading their latest comments on what they had now come to term The Saltwater Mystery" By this time there was little more lett for hem to say than that up to the latest date the place had failed in obtaining any clue to the perpetrator of this remark able outrage Harold smiled to himself as he read.
 Bruce Wenlock met him at the station with the dog-cart.
 |" have made up my mind at last" said Harold, as they drove along to- gether.
 Made up your mind to what2"
 "Fo propose to Eiinor Trenton"
 "You ought to nave made up your mind long ago, as advised you"
 What do you mean2"
 Simply that you are too late in the field. James Boyd proposed to her yes- terday and was accepted"
 Dare sat like man stapefed. After a long silence he said: "I thought you told me that Boyd was under a three years engagement in South America"
 "So he is. He went out as sub engi- neer, but the chief engineer having died, they have gwen Boyd his berth. He is over in England to see about some new machinery, and suppose he thinks that he can now afford to marry"
 There was another long pause before Harold spoke again. Then he asked: ' Does your father know of this arrange ment"
 Certainly he does-and approves of it. You must remember that James Boyd is the son of one of his oldest friends"
 And he will have 66 900 with his wife,