ything more than might have been expected in
view of Mr. Britton's statement. There were some trifling variations,
but they were all very much alike, and no one could doubt, on looking at
them, that they were all written by the same hand.

As this, however, was apparently not in dispute, it furnished no new
information. Thorndyke's object--for I felt certain that he had
something definite in his mind--must be to test something apart from the
genuineness of the signatures. But what could that something be? I dared
not ask him, for questions of that kind were anathema, so there was
nothing for it but to lie low and see what he would do with the
photographs.

The whole series was finished on the fourth morning after my adventure
at Sloane Square, and the pack of cards was duly delivered by Polton
when he brought in the breakfast tray. Thorndyke took up the pack
somewhat with the air of a whist player, and, as he ran through them, I
noticed that the number had increased from twenty-three to twenty-four.

"The additional one," Thorndyke explained, "is the signature to the
first will, which was in Marchmont's possession. I have added it to the
collection as it carries us back to an earlier date. The signature of
the second will presumably resembles those of the cheques drawn about
the same date. But that is not material, or, if it should become so, we
could claim to examine the second will."

He laid the cards out on the table in the order of their dates and
slowly ran his eye down the series. I watched him closely and ventured
presently to ask:

"Do you agree with Mr. Britton as to the general identity of character
in the whole set of signatures?"

"Yes," he replied. "I should certainly have put them down as being all
the signatures of one person. The variations are very slight. The later
signatures are a little stiffer, a little more shaky and indistinct, and
the B's and k's are both appreciably different from those in the earlier
ones. But there is another fact which emerges when the whole series is
seen together, and it is so striking and significant a fact, that I am
astonished at its not having been remarked on by Mr. Britton."

"Indeed!" said I, stooping to examine the photographs with fresh
interest; "what is that?"

"It is a very simple fact and very obvious, but yet, as I have said,
very significant. Look carefully at number one, which is the signature
of the first will, dated three years ago, and compare i