is forehead with his hand.

"Of course!" he muttered. "A good job, too, for him!"

CHAPTER XXVI

THE DOCUMENT DISCOVERED

On the following morning, Laverick surprised his office cleaner and
one errand-boy by appearing at about a quarter to nine. He found
a woman busy brushing out his room and a man Cleaning the windows.
They stared at him in amazement. His arrival at such an hour was
absolutely unprecedented.

"You can leave the office just as it is, if you please," he told
them. "I have a few things to attend to at once."

He was accordingly left alone. He had reckoned upon this as being
the one period during the day when he could rely upon not being
disturbed. Nevertheless, he locked the door so as to be secure
against any possible intruder. Then he went to his safe, unlocked
it, and drew from its secret drawer the worn brown-leather
pocket-book.

First of all he took out the notes and laid them upon the table.
Then he felt the pocket-book all over and his heart gave a little
leap. It was true what Mademoiselle Idiale had told him. On one
side there was distinctly a rustling as of paper. He opened the
case quite flat and passed his fingers carefully over the lining.
Very soon he found the opening--it was simply a matter of drawing
down the stiff silk lining from underneath the overlapping edge.
Thrusting in his fingers, he drew out a long foreign envelope,
securely sealed. Scarcely stopping to glance at it, he rearranged
the pocket-book, replaced the notes, and locked it up again. Then
he unbolted his door and sat down at his desk, with the document
which he had discovered, on the pad in front of him.

There was not much to be made of it. There was no address, but the
black seal at the end bore the impression of a foreign coat of arms,
and a motto which to him was indecipherable. He held it up to the
light, but the outside sheet had not been written on, and he gained
no idea as to its contents. He leaned back in his chair for a
moment, and looked at it. So this was the document which would
probably reveal the secret of the murder in Crooked Friars' Alley!
This was the document which Mademoiselle Idiale considered of so
much more importance than the fortune represented by that packet of
bank-notes! What did it all mean? Was this man, who had either
expiated a crime or been the victim of a terrible vengeance,--was
he a politician, a dealer in trade secrets, a member of a secret
soci