The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-03-09

which were hailed by the Project as
certain aids to his success, regarded
only as ruses, to afford opportunity for
thorough search to the police, and thus
the sooner to impress them with the
conviction to which c., in fact, did
hnally arrive-the conviction that the
letter was not upon the premises.
felt, also, that the whole train OF
thought, which was at some pains in
detailing to you just now, concerning
invariablc principle of policial action in
searches for articles concealed-I felt
that this whole train of thought would
necessarily pass through the mind Of the
Minister. 1t would imperatively lead
him to despise all the ordinary hooks of
concealment. He could not, reflected.
be so weak as not to see that the most
intricate and remote recess Of his hotel
would be as open MS his commonest
closets to the eyes, to the probes, to the
gimlets, and to the microscopes of the
Prefect. l saw, in fine, that he would
be driven. as matter of course, to sim
plicity, IL not deliberately induced to it
as n matter of choice. You will remem-
Der, perhaps, how desperately the Pre-
feet laughed when | suggested, upon
our first interview, that it was just
possible this mystery troubled him so
much on account OF its being SO very
self-evidcnt."
Il have never given the matter a
thought" said.
'"Thcre is game of puzzles" he re-
sumed which is played upon n map.
One party playing requires another to
find given word-thc name of town.
river, state or cmpre-any word. in
short, upon the motley and pcrplexcd
surface of the chart. A novice in the
game generally seeks to cmbarruss his
opponents by giving them the most min
utcly lcttcrcd names; but the adept Sc
lects such words rs stretch i'm large
characters. from one end of the chart to
the other. These. like the ovcr-largcly
lcttcrcd signs and placards of the street,
escape observation by dint of being cx-
ccssivcly obvious: and here the physical
oversight is precisely analogous with
the moral inapprchcnsion by which the
intellect suffers to pass unnoticcd those
considerations which are TOO obtrusively
and too palpably sclf-cvidcnt. But this
is point it appears. somewhat above
or beneath the understanding of the
Project. He never once thought it
probable, or possible. that the Minister
had deposited the letter Immediately
beneath the nose of the whole world.
by way of best preventing any portion
of that world from percciving it,
But the more | reflected upon the
daring, dashing, and discrimina ting in
gcnuity of D; upon the fact that the
document must always have been at
hand, if he intended to use it to good
purpose: and upon the decisive evidence.
obtained by the Project that it was not
hidden within the limits of that digni-
Lary's ordinary scarch-the more salts
fed became that. to conceal this letter,
the Minister had resortcd to the compre-
hcnsivc and sagacious eXpcdient of not
attempting to conceal it at all.
Full of these ideas. prepared myself
with Il pair Of green spectacles. and
called one fine morning. quite by acct
dent. at the Ministerial hotel | found
D at home, yawning. lounging, and
dawdling. as usual, and pretending to
be in the last extremity of ennui. He
is, perhaps, the most really energetic
human being now alive-but that is
only when nobody sees him.
ITO be even with him. ! complained
of my weak eyes, and lamcnted the
necessity of the spectacles under cover
of which | cautiously and thoroughly
surveyed the whole apartment, while
seemingly intent only upon the CONVEX
sation of my host.
81 paid especial attention to large
writing-table near which he sat, and
upon which lay confusediy, some mis-
ceilancous letters and other papers, with
one or two musical instruments and
few books. Here. however, after long
and very deliberate scrutiny, l saw
| nothing to excite particular suspicion.
AT length my eyes, in going the
circuit of the room, fell upon trumpery
hung dangling by dirty blue ribbon,
from a little brass knob just beneath
the middle of the mantlc-piecc. In this
rack, which had three or four compart-
ments, were five or six visiting cards
ana a solitary letter. This last was
much soilcd and crumpled. 1t was torn
nearly in two. across the middlc--as if
| design. in the first instance. to tear it en-
| tircly up as worthless, had been altered,
Or stayed, in the second. 1t had large
| black seal bearing the D--ciphcr very
| conspicuously. and was addressed. in
| iliminutivc female hand. to D., the
| Minister. himself, 1t was thrust care
| lessly, and even. as it seemed contempt
uously. into one of the uppcrmost divi-
| Sions of the rack
NO sooner had | glanced ut this let
| ter. than | concluded it TO be that of
| which | was in search TO be sure. it
was to all appearance. radically differ
| ent from the one of whc! the Project
had read us so minute Il description.