But where was the real Chester J. Gillespie, whose second double was now entering his house, and calmly inspecting his letters?
Gordon had given Nick certain necessary particulars concerning the arrangement of the house, and, thanks to these, the detective mounted the stairs with the utmost assurance, leaving the nearsighted old butler bowing in the lower hall.
He found his way to Gillespie’s private room easily enough, the letters still in his hand. After looking about him curiously, and noting the certain evidences of recent occupancy, he sat down and glanced mechanically at the letters.
One of them obviously was a business communication, but the other was not.
The envelope was unusually large, and of the finest texture. As for the writing, it was big, heavy, and sprawling.
In the lower left-hand corner were the words, “Important—please forward,” and they were heavily underscored.
All is fair in love and war, they say, and if that is so, all is fair in detection as well, especially when the detective is trying to safeguard the man whose identity he has temporarily appropriated.
Under the circumstances, therefore, Nick felt justified in opening any of Gillespie’s correspondence that seemed to promise a solution of the mystery, just as he would have ransacked the house for a similar clew.
There might be nothing in it, of course, but this letter appeared to be somewhat out of the ordinary, and might be valuable.