magnify the writing."

He had a projecting machine, and, lighting it, he placed the signature
on the will and several more signatures of Mr. Dalton in the machine.

The names were reflected on a sheet, in enormous proportions.

Three were exactly alike, but the fourth was entirely unlike them.

Magnified, the finest lines of the writing were now as coarse as a
broom handle, so that every little mark was plainly visible.

"Explanations are useless here," said the expert, smilingly. "You can
easily see for yourself all I could tell you. The three signatures
which are alike are taken from a check, a letter and a bill. You will
notice there isn't the slightest deviation in any of the lines from the
fixed method Mr. Dalton had of signing his name. The odd-looking
signature is the one affixed to the will. Here you will see that the
loops, straight lines, curves and angles are all entirely unlike the
original; the width of the lines and shading are different, and the
angle at which the letters are set is not the same as that in the
others."

The Bradys saw all this and more, too.

In fact, they had every evidence before them that the will was a base
forgery and they were well satisfied.

With this fact established, they went to the Central office.

Here they encountered their chief.

Old King Brady detailed to him all that transpired, and he listened
very attentively until the detective finished.

Then he pondered a moment, and said:

"The whole thing is a big plot on Mason's part to get his uncle's money
and daughter at one swoop."

"We've clearly established Mason's guilt, sir."

"Very true. He's a bad egg. Capture him and you may find out what he
has done with Oliver Dalton."

"I've become convinced of another fact since finding out what a villain
that fellow is," said Old King Brady.

"To what do you allude?"

"Well, you recollect that when we began this case it was for the
purpose of finding out who was stealing money from the broker's mail,"
said the detective.

"I'm aware of that."

"In view of all that happened, it begins to look as if Mason was the
guilty party the Federal Government is after."

"It wouldn't surprise me a bit if you brought home that crime to his
door," said the chief. "If, as you say, he had such extensive control
of the business, he must have handled all the mail. It would then have
been an easy matter for him to purloin the contents of many of the
envelopes without being d