He took the file and hung it up again on the wall, to make room on the counter. Then he spread out the two papers side by side, with their first pages uppermost.
As he did so the boy who had been folding and wrapping papers at the other end of the counter left his work and crept toward the two men.
“Oh! see this!” exclaimed the proprietor—“see this! The two papers are facsimile in every letter and line, except in two places! See this! The first column on the first page of the paper from the file is occupied by the report of an agricultural fair at Middlemoor, and the same column in the same edition of the paper, in the copy you brought, is filled with the obituary of Col. Anglesea! And here! In the list of deaths on another page, the first paragraph in this paper from the file is a notice of the death of the Rev. Mr. Orton, our old vicar; and in the copy of the same paper that you brought me the same space is taken up with the notice of the death of Col. Anglesea. This is a very great mystery!”
“Perhaps if you could recall all the incidents of the day on which this paper was issued we might come to some solution of the problem,” suggested Mr. Force.
“I don’t know that I could,” replied Purdy.
“Father,” said the boy—“father, I remember something queer about that very day—I do.”
CHAPTER XXXV
A SECRET WITNESS
“You do? Come here, my son.”
The lad came up to the counter. He was a fine, wholesome-looking boy of about fifteen years of age, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes, and closely cut, light brown hair.
He bowed to the visitors and stood waiting for his father’s questions.