* 			or null if the word is not in the trie
	 */
	public Trie.Node find(String word) { 
		WordNode s = root;
		word = word.toLowerCase();
    int length = word.length();
    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
      char letter = word.charAt(i);
      int iChar = Character.getNumericValue(letter) - 10;
      Character c1, c2;
      c1 = new Character(letter);
      if (s.subNodes[iChar] != null) 
        c2 = new Character(s.subNodes[iChar].letter);
      else
        c2 = null;
      if (c2 != null) {
        if (c1.compareTo(c2) == 0) {
          s = s.subNodes[iChar];
        } 
      }else {
        return null;
      }
    }
    if (s.getValue() == 0 )
      return null;
    return s;
	}