espondence ends. Murdy has shown
me nearly all the anonymous letters, and in the whole series there
is not one instance of the colon or the semicolon being used. The
punctuation is of the vaguest, consisting largely of the dash, which
after all is a literary evasion.

"In these letters the word 'but' frequently appears without any
punctuation mark before it. At other times it has a comma, a dash,
or a full stop."

He paused and for the next two minutes devoted himself to the game
before him. Then he continued:

"Such phrases as 'If only you knew,' 'I should have loved to have
been,' 'different than,' which appear in these letters, would have
been absolutely impossible to a man of Blade's meticulous literary
temperament."

As Malcolm Sage spoke, Robert Freynes's brain had been working
rapidly. Presently he brought his hand down with a smack upon his
knee.

"By heavens, Sage!" he cried, "this is a new pill for the
handwriting expert. I'll put you in the box. We've got a fighting
chance after all."

"The most curious factor in the whole case," continued Malcolm Sage,
"is the way in which the letters were delivered. One was thrown into
a fly on to Miss Crayne's lap, she tells us, when she and her father
were driving home after dining at the Hall. Another was discovered
in the vicarage garden. A third was thrown through Miss Crayne's
bedroom window. A few of the earlier group were posted in the
neighbouring town of Whitchurch, some on days that Blade was
certainly not there."

"That was going to be one of my strongest points," remarked Freynes.

"The letters always imply that there is some obstacle existing
between the writer and the girl he desires. What possible object
could Blade have in writing letters to various people suggesting an
intrigue between his vicar's daughter and himself; yet these letters
were clearly written by the same hand that addressed those to the
girl, her father and her mother."

Freynes nodded his head comprehendingly.

"If Blade were in love with the girl," continued Malcolm Sage, "what
was there to prevent him from pressing his suit along legitimate and
accepted lines. Murdy frankly acknowledges that there has been
nothing in Blade's outward demeanour to suggest that Miss Crayne was
to him anything more than the daughter of his vicar."

"What do you make of the story of the assault?"

"As evidence it is worthless," replied Malcolm Sage, "being without
corroboration. The farmhand