circulars in any of the private print
shops. In fact, I'm up a stump!"

"But why do you attach so much importance to this matter?" queried Mary
Louise.

"It's the most direct route to the traitor. Find who printed the
circulars and you've got your hand on the man who wrote and mailed
them. But the printing baffles me, and so I've started another line of
investigation."

"What line is that, Josie?"

"The circular envelopes were addressed by hand, with pen and ink. The
ink is a sort in common use. The envelopes are an ordinary commercial
kind. The circulars are printed on half a sheet of letter-size
typewriting paper, sold in several stationery store in large
quantities. No clue there. But the handwriting is interesting. It's
disguised, of course, and the addressing was done by two different
people--that's plain."

"You are wonderful, Josie!"

"I'm stupid as a clam, Mary Louise. See here!" she went to a closet and
brought out a large card-board box, which she placed upon the table. It
was filled to the brim with envelopes, addressed to many business firms
in Dorfield, but all bearing the local postmark. "Now, I've been days
collecting these envelopes," continued the girl, "and I've studied them
night after night. I'm something of a handwriting expert, you know, for
that is one of the things that Daddy has carefully taught me. These
envelopes came from all sorts of people--folks making inquiries, paying
bills, ordering goods, and the like. I've had an idea from the first
that some prominent person--no ordinary man--is responsible for the
circulars. They're well worded, grammatical, and the malicious
insinuations are cleverly contrived to disconcert the loyal but weak
brethren. However, these envelopes haven't helped me a bit. Neither of
the two persons who addressed the envelopes of the circulars addressed
any of these business envelopes. Of that I'm positive."

"Dear me," said Mary Louise, surprised, "I'd no idea you'd taken so
much trouble, Josie."

"Well, I've undertaken a rather puzzling case, my dear, and it will
mean more trouble than you can guess, before I've solved it. This
pro-German scoundrel is clever; he suspected that he'd be investigated
and has taken every precaution to prevent discovery. Nevertheless, the
cleverest criminal always leaves some trace behind him, if one can
manage to find it, so I'm not going to despair at this stage of the
game."

"Do you know," said Mary Louise thoughtfully, "I