"Bah! the colonel knew no one would contest it. He did it at his own risk."
"But will they not contest your will?"
"If they do, I shall find the means of proving what the document affirms, and my case will then stand just as well. As a kind of assurance for the witnesses my brother affixed a character,—a kind of cabalistic design,—upon the will, assuring them it was placed on the will alone. You have a copy of this design?"
"I have. Maxwell gave it to me, and I have practised till I can do it to perfection. Your brother had an odd way of doing business."
"He had; but his oddity in this instance is a God-send."
"But the other document, Mr. Dumont! My stay is already too long!"
Jaspar, taking the keys from the table, opened the secretary, and took from a small iron safe in the lower part of it a large packet, on which were several large masses of wax bearing the impress of Colonel Dumont's seal.
"Now, De Guy," said he, "do your best."
"Do not fear! I never yet saw a name I could not imitate."
"So much the better; but be careful, I entreat you! Think how much depends upon care!"