ical half-quire from which this was taken, I might show you
proof that would dispel every doubt," and taking up the one that lay on
top, he rapidly counted the sheets. There were but eight. "It might have
been taken from this one," said he; but, upon looking closely at the
ruling, he found it to be uniformly distinct. "Humph! that won't do!"
came from his lips.

The remainder of the paper, some dozen or so half-quires, looked
undisturbed. Mr. Gryce tapped his fingers on the table and a frown
crossed his face. "Such a pretty thing, if it could have been done!" he
longingly exclaimed. Suddenly he took up the next half-quire. "Count the
sheets," said he, thrusting it towards me, and himself lifting another.

I did as I was bid. "Twelve."

He counted his and laid it down. "Go on with the rest," he cried.

I counted the sheets in the next; twelve. He counted those in the one
following, and paused. "Eleven!"

"Count again," I suggested.

He counted again, and quietly put them aside. "I made a mistake," said
he.

But he was not to be discouraged. Taking another half-quire, he went
through with the same operation;--in vain. With a sigh of impatience he
flung it down on the table and looked up. "Halloo!" he cried, "what is
the matter?"

"There are but eleven sheets in this package," I said, placing it in his
hand.

The excitement he immediately evinced was contagious. Oppressed as I
was, I could not resist his eagerness. "Oh, beautiful!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, beautiful! See! the light on the inside, the heavy one on the
outside, and both in positions precisely corresponding to those on
this sheet of Hannah's. What do you think now? Is any further proof
necessary?"

"The veriest doubter must succumb before this," returned I.

With something like a considerate regard for my emotion, he turned away.
"I am obliged to congratulate myself, notwithstanding the gravity of the
discovery that has been made," said he. "It is so neat, so very neat,
and so conclusive. I declare I am myself astonished at the perfection
of the thing. But what a woman that is!" he suddenly cried, in a tone
of the greatest admiration. "What an intellect she has! what shrewdness!
what skill! I declare it is almost a pity to entrap a woman who has done
as well as this--taken a sheet from the very bottom of the pile, trimmed
it into another shape, and then, remembering the girl couldn't write,
put what she had to say into coarse, awkward printing, Hannah