The paper was blank!
I glanced at him in abject dismay, unable to utter a word.
“That is what you handed me on my return from the Cabinet Council,” he said, with knit brows. “Now, what explanation have you to offer?”
“What can I offer?” I cried. “The envelope I gave you was the same that you handed to me. I could swear to it.”
“No, it was not,” he replied quickly. “Glance at the seal.”
Taking it to the light I examined the seal carefully, but failed to detect anything unusual. It bore in black wax the Warnham coat of arms impressed by the large, beautifully-cut amethyst which the Earl wore attached to the piece of rusty silk ribbon that served him as watch chain.
“I can see nothing wrong with this,” I said, glancing up at him.
“I admit that the imitation is so carefully executed that it is calculated to deceive any eye except my own.” Then, putting on his pince-nez, he made an impression in wax with his own seal and pointed out a slight flaw which, in the impression upon the envelope, did not exist.
“And your endorsement. Is it not in your own hand?” he inquired.
I turned over the envelope and looked. It bore the designation “B27,893,” just as I had written it, and the writing was either my own or such a marvellously accurate imitation that I was compelled to confess my inability to point out any discrepancy.