u think they
will be able to tell the real from the false thumb-prints?"

"I can't say," I replied; "but we shall soon know. They looked all alike
to me."

Mr. Nash made his examination with exasperating deliberateness, and
preserved throughout an air of stolid attention; but at length he, too,
completed his notes and handed the paper back to the usher.

"Now, Mr. Singleton," said the judge, "let us hear your conclusions. You
have been sworn."

Mr. Singleton stepped into the witness-box, and, laying his notes on the
ledge, faced the judge.

"Have you examined the paper that was handed to you?" asked Sir Hector
Trumpler.

"I have."

"What did you see on the paper?"

"I saw twenty thumb-prints, of which some were evident forgeries, some
were evidently genuine, and some were doubtful."

"Taking the thumb-prints _seriatim_, what have you noted about them?"

Mr. Singleton examined his notes and replied--"The thumb-print on square
one is evidently a forgery, as is also number two, though it is a
passable imitation. Three and four are genuine; five is an obvious
forgery. Six is a genuine thumb-print; seven is a forgery, though a good
one; eight is genuine; nine is, I think, a forgery, though it is a
remarkably good imitation. Ten and eleven are genuine thumb-marks;
twelve and thirteen are forgeries; but as to fourteen I am very
doubtful, though I am inclined to regard it as a forgery. Fifteen is
genuine, and I think sixteen is also; but I will not swear to it.
Seventeen is certainly genuine. Eighteen and nineteen I am rather
doubtful about, but I am disposed to consider them both forgeries.
Twenty is certainly a genuine thumb-print."

As Mr. Singleton's evidence proceeded, a look of surprise began to make
its appearance on the judge's face, while the jury glanced from the
witness to the notes before them and from their notes to one another in
undisguised astonishment.

As to Sir Hector Trumpler, that luminary of British jurisprudence was
evidently completely fogged; for, as statement followed statement, he
pursed up his lips and his broad, red face became overshadowed by an
expression of utter bewilderment.

For a few seconds he stared blankly at his witness and then dropped on
to his seat with a thump that shook the court.

"You have no doubt," said Anstey, "as to the correctness of your
conclusions? For instance, you are quite sure that the prints one and
two are forgeries?"

"I have no doubt."

"You s