Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-10-13
like If better If, he could have some
one Of his ownf profession t~oSeopsults

one OF MS VIII
WITH
I was astonished that the secretary
should so assert himself, as to make
this suggestian, for as a rule, ne was
rather reticent and non-consmittal.
Moreover, 1 knew that the one he
had in mind was Fleming Stone.
Morland opposed this idea and said
rather angrily that there was no use
throwing away any more money on
detectives, when the one we a
didn't amount to anything.
I felt decidedly uncomfortable ~
this, for, If l had not held HIN back,
Mr.. Markham would have told n
family of his recent discoveries.
The glance that the detective h 0
at me expressed this thought, and I
partly made SUI my ndnd hat -
would tell him to go ahead in his
own way. #
II left the party and walked out on
the terrace alone. 1t seemed as II
must do something desperate. had
promised Markham that If 1 discov-
cred nothing about that letter by eve
ming, I would consent to his making
the story public. I had vague
thoughts of going straight to Anne
with it as it would be easier for her
to hear about it from me alone than
from Tic ueIeStAse AL SnS pASoSAASe -
others.
. But I couldn't bring myself to do
this.
I tried to think what Fleming Stone
wd6ld do If he had that letter to
puzzle over. And 1 thought at once,
that he would examine it to the
minutest detail, even under a lens.
At any rate, it was something to
try; so l asked Markham for the let
ter, and he gave it to me unnoticed
by anyone else. Remembering that
there was a magnifying glass in the
study, I took the letter in there.
= Although the scene Of the crime
the great was so beautiful that
it gave no sense OF horror. l crossed
the soft Turkish rug to the desk that
was there, and I read the letter
through it. The magnifying of it told
NJ. nothing, but as l re-read the ter
rible lines, l could not believe they
were written to Anne in good faith.
l believed the letter Va forgery OF
some sort, n l determined to find
out.
L had heard Stone say that type
writing was almost as individual as
pen writing. That M two typewriters
produced the same script and, indeed,
III Two operators WFOtc HIM., eVSA
: on the same machine.
: And so l set to work to note any
peculiaritics l might find in the
words or letters.
: At the very outset l made a dis
covery. This was that the typewrit-
: ing on the envelope" and inside the
letter were not the same! There
could be no doubt that they were not
; done on the same machine. The ink
, was the same color, the letters about
,, the same size; but the conformation,
though similar, was not identical. L
: wondered what this gould mean, for
surely the paper n envelope be-
,, longed to each other, and why would
- writer and address it on another?
Spurred on by this discovery I
scrutinized still more carefully. and
! found that in the message the CAPT
;, tal"T' was imperfect. A tiny or
: ner of II of it's arms failed to print.
This was a small thing, but it was q
certain thing. The "T' on the en-
= velope was perfectly clear and dis
: tinct.
l 1 could find no other discrepancies
of this kind, .but l was positive that
been used, proved ~chicanery of some
j., sort. ssS "A
Then, again, I thought perhaps a
= letter might print clearly at one time
:, and not at another.
1, AS an experiment ] went to the
: typewriter which stood son a side
:, table in the study, and hastily wrote
- a few lines. ] did not copy the let
: ter or the address, but wrote a ia
: miliar quotation of son,e sort. fol-
: lowed by a whole string of letters at
> random.
;, ness!