“He understood me at once, and replied,—
“'Have you any of Hawke's handwriting by you?'
“'A quantity,' said I; 'and it is a remarkable hand, very distinctive, and not hard to imitate,—at least, by any one skilled in such accomplishments.'
“He blushed a little at the allusion, but laughed it off.
“'The girl could have died last year; she might have been buried,—where shall we say?' added he, carelessly.
“'At Meisner, in the Tyrol,' said I, catching at the idea that just struck me, for my maid died in that place, and I had got the regular certificate of her death and burial from the Syndic, and I showed him the document.
“'This is admirable,' said he; 'nothing easier than to erase this name and insert another.'
“'I cannot hear of such a thing, Mr. Trover,' said I; 'nor can I, after such a proposal, suffer the paper to leave my hands.' And with this I gave it to him.
“'I could not dream of such an act, madam,' said he, with great seriousness; 'it would amount to a forgery. Now for one last question,' said he, after a little interval of silence: 'what would you deem a suitable reward to the person who should discover this missing will, and restore this property to the rightful owner? Would twenty per cent on the value appear to you too much?'
“'I should say that the sum was a high one, but if the individual acquitted himself with all the integrity and all the delicacy the situation demanded, never by even an implication involving any one who trusted him, conducting the transaction to its end on his own responsibility and by his own unaided devices, why, then, it is more than probable that I would judge the reward to be insufficient.'