Will you kindly examine
this piece of paper?" and he tore a leaf from his notebook.
"Be Bold, Be Bold"
Collins, biting his lips until they bled, took it and looked it over
with frowning and puzzled countenance.
"Well?" he asked, at last.
"The note I sent the Misses Rushford," said Vernon, quietly, "was
written on a leaf from the notebook, which I tore out just as I did that
one you have in your hand," and he sat down and stared out the window,
across the gray dunes and the gray sea to the gray horizon.
Collins, with compressed lips, held the two pieces of paper up to the
light and compared their texture. Then he got out a small pocket
magnifying glass and examined through it the writing on the note.
"It's a tracing," he said, at last, "and a mighty clever piece of work.
The paper, too, is very like."
"But it's not the same," put in Vernon.
"Oh, no, it's not the same."
"Do you mean this is a forgery?" burst out Blake, hoarsely, snatching
up the note and staring at it.
"Undoubtedly," answered Collins, coolly, but his face was very dark.
"The forger, clever as he was, could scarcely expect to be so fortunate
as to duplicate the paper. And then, of course, he couldn't foresee that
it would be turned over to you. But he did very well. Now let's have the
story.
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