Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-13

ceal this letter, the minister had resorted
to the comprehensive and sagacious ex-
pedfent Of not attempting to conceal it at
all.
Full of these ideas, 1 prepared myself
with pair of green spectacles, and called
one fine morning, quite by accident, at the
Ministerial Hotel. 1 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 with him, complained of my
weak eyes, and lamented the necessity of
the spectacle, under cover of which eau
tiously and thoroughly surveyed the apart
ment, while seemingly intent only upon the
conversation of my host.
Il paid special attention to a large writ
ing table near which he sat, and upon
which lay confusedly. some miscellaneous
letters and other papers, with one or two
musical instruments and a few books.
Here, however, after a long and very de-
liberate scrutiny, l saw nothing to excite
particular suspicion.
''At length my eyes. in going the cir
cult OF the room, fell upon trumpery fila
gree cardrack of pasteboard that hung
dangling by a dirty blue ribbon, from a
little brass knob just beneath the middle of
the mantelpiece. In this rack, which had
three or four compartments, were five or
six visiting cards and a solitary letter This
last was much soiled and crumpled. 1t
was torn nearly in two, across the middle
DIS IL d UeSlSup III the INSTANCE, 10 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 a
diminutive female hand, to D., the minis
ter, himself. 1t was thrust carelessly. and
even, as 1t seemed, contemporary, into
one Of the upper divisions of the rack.
mo sooner had I glanced at this letter.
than l concluded it to be that Of which I
was in search. To be sure, it was, to all
appearance, radically different from the
one of which the project had read US so
minute a description. Here the seal was
there it was small and red, with the ducal
arms of the S. family. Here, the ad-
dress, to the minister, was diminutive and
feminine; there the superscription, to a GER
tain royal parsonage, was markedly bold
and decided; the size alone formed a point
of correspondence. But, then, the radical
ness of these differences, which was Excess
sive; the dirt; the soiled and torn condition
methodical habits of D., and so sugges-
tive of design to delude the beholder into
an idea of worth.essness of the document;
these things, together with the hyperob-
trusive situation of this document, full in
the view of every visitor, and thus exactly
in accordance with the conclusions to which
l had previously arriyed; these things, l
say, were strongly corroborative of sus-
picion, in one who came with the intention
to suspect.
81 protracted my visit as long as posi-
bic, and, Wn1le maintained a most AMI
mated discussion with the minister, a
topic which knew well had never failed
to interest and excite him, 1 kept my at
tention really riveted upon the letter. In
this 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 I might have entertained. In scruti-
nizing 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 stin
paper, having besn once folded and pressed