"But if he is a criminal, we want to know it," her husband interrupted her. "Mr. Thorpe is engaged to my daughter, and if he is an innocent man, I want it made clear to the world. If not, then, of course, the engagement must be broken."
"He is an innocent man," Zizi said, quietly.
"Oh, you darling!" cried Julie, running across the room to embrace her. "How do you know?"
"By that letter," and Zizi pointed to the note from Peter, which she had been scrutinizing and comparing with some old letters of Peter's.
"You think it isn't from my brother?"
"I know it isn't. I've made a study of handwriting, and whoever wrote that wrote it in imitation of your brother's writing. I mean the writer was disguising his own hand and imitating your brother's."
"How can you tell? They are very much alike."
"That's just it. The salient points are imitated, the long terminal strokes, the peculiarities of the capitals, but the less conspicuous details, such as slant and spacing, are not so carefully copied. It is a forgery, and though well done enough to deceive the average observer, it would not deceive an expert."
"What a lot you know!" and Julie looked at the other girl in surprised admiration.
"'Course I do. It's my business to know things. Am I right about this, Penny Wise?"