Page:Anna Katharine Green - Leavenworth Case.djvu/364

354 found it to be uniformly distinct. "Humph! that won’t do!" came from his lips.

The remainder of the paper, some dozen or so half-quires, looked undisturbed. Mr. Gryce tapped his fingers on the table and a frown crossed his face. "Such a pretty thing, if it could have been done!" he longingly exclaimed. Suddenly he took up the next half-quire. "Count the sheets," said he, thrusting it towards me, and himself lifting another.

I did as I was bid. "Twelve."

He counted his and laid it down. "Go on with the rest," he cried.

I counted the sheets in the next; twelve. He counted those in the one following, and paused. "Eleven!"

"Count again," I suggested.

He counted again, and quietly put them aside. "I made a mistake," said he.

But he was not to be discouraged. Taking another half-quire, he went through with the same operation;—in vain. With a sigh of impatience he flung it down on the table and looked up. "Halloo!" he cried, "what is the matter?"

"There are but eleven sheets in this package," I said, placing it in his hand.

The excitement he immediately evinced was contagious. Oppressed as I was, I could not resist his eagerness. "Oh, beautiful!" he exclaimed. "Oh, beautiful! See! the light on the inside, the heavy one on the outside, and both in positions precisely corresponding to those on this sheet of Hannah's. What do you think now? Is any further proof necessary?"

"The veriest doubter must succumb before this," returned I.