"If there be one," I questioned.
"There is one—of that you may be sure."
"She offered to show it to you, to-day," said I. "Call her bluff."
"I'm going to accept her offer, when I leave here. And, what's more, I shall see the certificate," he said. "This plot has been too well laid for the essentials to have been overlooked. I'll bet a twenty you were in New York City on the twenty-first of last December."
"Yes," said I, "I was. So it's up to proving the certificate a forgery."
He shook his head. "I fear we shall find it a perfectly regular certificate."
"You mean," said I, "that they have bribed some official to make a false record?"
"Just that."
"Then, if the woman, the official and the records all convict me, how am I to prove my innocence?" I demanded.
"By waiting for the enemy to make a blunder. They have already made one which results delightfully for you."