Might not some wicked wag in the Department, knowing all the circumstances of the case, have prepared the letter in question, and sent it as a hoax? This could be easily settled by referring to the account of mails received, for the record in that event should show the receipt of a free letter, either direct from Washington, or from the Distribution office at New York. Then another test, was a comparison of the "order," with the hand-writing of the post master. But the most troublesome point of all to reconcile, was, how the official envelope had been obtained, for that was beyond a doubt genuine.
Introducing myself to the lady assistant, who happened to be alone in the office, I remarked,—
"I am in pursuit of a letter which should have come here from New York in March last, and I wish to see if your New York packages, during that month, were all regularly received. Where do you keep your transcripts, the books, or sheets, you know, upon which you copy your post-bills?"
They were taken from a desk and laid before me. Turning to the record of the month in question, not a single free letter was entered as received at that office for the last two weeks in March, from any quarter!
"Who made the entries in this book?" I inquired. "My husband," was the prompt answer.
Having the general style of the "order" in my mind, I glanced over a few pages of the book, and observed several peculiarities in the formation of some of the capital letters which I had noticed in the (to this time) fatherless document. It was written in bluish ink, and so were the pages of the records made at about the same time,—a trifling circumstance to be sure, but yet a link in the chain of evidence. The wafer too, used in sealing, was strikingly similar in size and shade to those contained in a large box upon the desk. The "order" was on a half sheet of letter paper of different size and stamp from the wrapper enclosing it.
It now remained to establish some reasonable theory to account for his possession of a genuine official envelope. Some farther reflection supplied that theory which in the sequel proved to be the correct one. The date of the Washington post-mark I had before noticed, was very indistinct, in fact could not be made out, although the word "Washington" and "March" were tolerably plain. At that time the present style of envelopes were not much in use by the Department.
Could it not be an old wrapper, or the "fly leaf" of some former official document from head quarters? This idea was certainly favored by the fact that on one side it presented a ragged appearance as if torn from another half sheet; and if its fellow could be found on the premises, the two parts must necessarily fit together, and conclusively show that a branch of the Appointment office had really been temporarily established without authority of law, not far from that locality.
It was now late in the afternoon, and the post master still absent, though momentarily expected home. An invitation to take tea with the good lady, was the more readily accepted, from a desire to prevent any comparing of notes between them with respect to the inquiries and examination already made. At the table I ventured, for the first time, to broach the subject of the "stoppage" affair.