The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-02-25

/ ettcr was not upon the premises. 4
felt, also, that the whole train of
thought which | was at some pains in
detailing to You just now. concerning
invariable principle of poIicial action in
searches for articles coucealed-I felt
that this whole train of thought would
uccessarilyp through the mind of the
Minister. Ii would imperatively lead
him to despise all the ordinary hooks of
aonccalmeut He could not, I reflected,
be so weak as not to see that the most
/ intricate and remote recess of his hotel
would be as open as his commouest
closets to the eyes, to the probes, to the
gimlots, and to the microscopes of the
prefact. / saw, in fine, that he would
be driven. as "a matter of course, to sim
plicity, if not deliberately induced to it
rs matter of choice. You will remem-
ber, perhaps, how desperately the Pre-
feet laughed when ! suggested, upon
our first interview, that il 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.
"Ihere is a game Of puzzles" he re-
sumed which is played upon a map.
One party playing requires another TO
| find a given word-the name of town,
river state or empire-any word, in
short, upon the motley and perplcXed
| surface of the chart A novice in the
| game generally seeks to ombarrass his
opponents by giving them the most min
| utcly lettercd names but the adept Sc
! lects such words as stretch, in large
! characters, from one end OF the chart to
the other. These, like the ovcr-largely Y
| ettered signs and pacards of thestrcet,
escape observation by dint of being ex-
,essively obvious; and here the physical
/ oversight is precisely analogous with
-he moral inapprehension by which the
intellect suffers to pass unnoticed those
considerations which are tOoOJtrusiyr' y
and too palpably self-evident. But this
IS point, it appears, somewhat above
Dr beneath the understanding of the
prefect. 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 perceiving it.
But the more l reflected upon the
daring, dashing, and discriminating in
genuity of D.; upon the fact that the
document must always have been at
land, if he intended to use it to good
purpose; and upon the decisive evidence,
obtained by the Prefect, that it was not
aidden within the limits Of that digni-
.ary's ordinary search-the more salts
fed ! became that, to conceal this letter,
The Minister had resorted to the compre-
hcnsive and sagacious eXpedient of not
attempting to conceal it at all.
'Tull of these ideas, l prepared myself
with a pair of green spectacles, and
called one fine morning, quite by acci-
lent at the Ministerial hotel. l found
D. at home, yawning, loungiug, and
lawdling, as usual, and pretending tc
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.
"To be even with him, l complained
Of my weak eyes, and lamented the
necessity Of the spectacIes, under cover
of which I cautiously and thoroughly
surveyed the whole apartment, while
seemingly intent only upon the conver
5ation of my host.
81 paid especial attention to a large
writiug-table near which he sat- anC
upon which lay confusadiy, some mis-
celIaucous letters and other papers, witt
one or two musical Instruments and ;
few books. Here, however, after Ions
and very deliberate scrutiny, I saw
nothing to excite particular suspicion.
AT length my eyes, in going tn,
circuit of the room, fell upon trumpery
Gligree card-rack Of pasteboard tha
hung dangling by dirty blue ribbon
from a little brass knob just beneatl
the middle of the mautIe-piece, In thi
rack, which had three or four compart
ments. were five or six visiting card