The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-03-18

L reflected, be so weak as nOt W SEE tuat
the most intricate and remote recess OF his
hotel would be as open as his eommonest
closets to the. eyes, to the probes, TO the
eimlets. and to the microscopes of the Pre-
feet. | saw, in fale, that he would be
driven, as a matter of course, to simplicity,
if not deliberately induced to it as matter
of choice You will remember, perhaps,
how desperately the Prefect 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-evident"
81 have never given the matter a
thought" | said.
"There is game of puzzles" he re-
sumed, which is played upon map. One
party playing requires another to lind
given word-the name Of town, river, state
or empire-any word, in short, upon the
motley and perplexed surface of the chart.
A novice in the game generally seeks to
embarrass his opponents by giving them
the most minutely lettered names; but the
adept selects such words as stretch, In large
characters, frem one end of the chart to
the other These, like the over-largely
lettered signs and placards of the street,
escape observation by dint of being exees-
sively obvious; and here the physical over
sight is precisely analogous with the moral
inapprehension by which the intellect sut-
fers to pass unnoticed those considerations
which are too obtrusively and too palpably
seIf-evident. But this is a point, it ap-
pears, somewhat above or beneath the un-
derstanding of the Prefect. He never
once thought it probable, or possible, that
the Minister had deposited the letter i'm
mediately beneath the nose Of the whole
world, by way of best preventing any por-
tion of that world from perceiving it.
"But the more | reflected upon the dar-
ing, dashing, and discriminating ingenuity
of D.; upon the fact that the document
must always have been at hand, if he in
tended to use it to good purpose; and upon
the decisive evidence, obtained by the
Prefect, that it was not hidden within the
limits Of that dignitary's ordinary search
the more satisfied l became that, to con
ceal this letter, the Minister had resorted
to the comprehensive and sagacious ex
pedient of not attempting to conceal 1t at
ALL
"Full of these ideas, ] prepared myself
with a pair of green spectacles, and called
one fine morning, quite by accident, at the
Ministerial hotel | found Dat 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.
'sTo be even with him, | complained
of my weak eyes, and lamented the neces-
sity of the spectacles, under cover of which
| cautiously and thorougly surveyed the
whole apartment, while seemingly intent
only upon the conversation of my host.
II paid especial attention to large
writing-table near which he sat, and upon
which lay confusedly, some miscellaneous
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.
Sat length my eyes, in going the cir
cult of the room, fell upon trumpery
fhgree card-rack of pasteboard, that hung
dangling by dirty blue ribbon, from a
little brass knob just beneath the middle
of the mantle-pieee. In this rack, which had
three or four compartments, were five or
six visiting cards and solitary letter.
This last was much soiled and crumpled.
1t was torn nearly in two, across the mid
dle-as if design, in the first instance,
to tear it entirely up as worthless, had been
altered, or stayed, in the second. 1t had a
large black seal bearing the D-cipher
very conspicuously, and was addressed, IN
diminutiye female hand, to D, the
Minister, himself 1t was thrust carelessly,
and even, as it seemed, contemptuously,
into one of the uppermost divisions of tie
rack.
s'No sooner had l glanced at this letter,
than concluded it TO be that of which |
was in search To be sure, it was, to all
appearance, radically different from the
one of which the Perfect had read us so
minute description Here the seal was
large and black, with the D-cipher;
there it was small and red, with the ducal
arms of the S-family. Here, the
address, to the Minister, was diminutive
and feminine, there the subscription, to a
certain royal parsonage, was markedly bold
ana decided; the size alone formed point
of correspondence But, then, the radi-
calness Of these differences, which was ex-
cessive; the dirt; the soiled and torn con-
dition of the paper, so inconsistent with the
true methodical habits Of D, and so
suggestive of design to delude the be-
holder into an idea of the worthlessness of
the document; these things, together with
the hyper-obtrusive situation of the docu-
ment, full in the view of every visitor, and
thus exactly in accordance with the con-
clusions to which | had previously arrived
these things, say, were strongly corrobor-
alive of suspicion, in one who came with
the intention to suspect.
II prolonged my visit as long as posi-
BILE, and, while ! maintained a most animat-
ed discussion with the Minister, upon
topic which knew well had never failed
to interest and excite him, | kept my at
ton really rlVeteu upon the letter. ln Iiils
examination, committed to memory its
external appearance and arrangement in
the rack; and also fell, at length, upon
discovery, which set at rest whatever trivial
doubt might have entertained. In scru-
tinizing the edges of the paper, observed
them to be more chafed than seemed neces-
sary. They presented the broken appear
ance which is manifested when stifpaper,
having been once folded and turned, as a
glove, inside out, is re-directed and res
sealed. | babe the Minister good morn
ing, and took my departure at once, leaving
gold snuff-box upon the table.
1.-The next morning called for the
snuff-box, when we resumed, quite eagerly,
the conversation of the preceding day.
While thus engaged, however, loud
report, as if of pistol, was heard i'm
q -