oh, the direction is on the back, of course." He
held the letter in front of him, but apparently took very little notice
of it. "As if," thought Gwen to herself, "he was thinking about his
Dynasty."

"What do you make of it, Hawtrey?" said the Earl, but, getting no
answer, waited. Silence ensued.

"_Yes_," said the lawyer, breaking it suddenly. He seemed to have seen
his way. "Now may I ask whether we have any means of knowing what the
forgery was for which this man was transported?"

"Oh yes!" said Gwen. "Old Mrs. Prichard told me what he was accused of,
at least. Forging an acceptance--if that's right? I think that was it."

"But whose signature? Did she say?"

"Oh yes--I made her tell me, her father's." Then Gwen fitted the name,
just heard, into its place in old Mrs. Prichard's tale, and was
illuminated. "I see what you think, Mr. Hawtrey," said she, interrupting
herself. The lawyer was examining the direction on the letter-sheet.

"I think I did right to pry into the letter, Gwennie," said her father;
seeking, nevertheless, a salve for conscience.

"Of course you did, you darling old thing!... What, Mr. Hawtrey? You
were going to say?..."

"I was going to say had you seen an odd thing in the direction. Have you
noticed that the word _Hobart_ has kept black, and all the rest has
faded to the colour of the writing inside?" So it had, without a doubt,
inexplicably. Mr. Hawtrey's impression was that the word was written in
a different hand, perhaps filled in by someone who had been able to
supply the name correctly, having been entrusted the letter to forward.

"But," said he, "the person who wrote Hobart must have been in England,
and the forger of the letter was certainly in Van Diemen's Land."

"Why 'must have been in England'?"

"Bless the girl!" said the girl's father. "Why--_I_ can see that! Of
course, an Australian convict, who could do such a fine piece of
forgery, would never ask another person to spell the name of an
Australian town. Do you suppose he sent it to England to get an
accomplice to spell 'Hobart' right for him? No--no, Hawtrey, your theory
won't hold water."

"That is the case," said Thothmes, more immovably than ever. "I see I
was mistaken. That point must wait. Or ... stop one minute!... may we
examine the other letters?"

"I had thought," said the Earl, "of leaving them unopened. We have got
what we want."

"Very proper. But I only wish to read the directions." No harm in this,