ons
sometimes use, and it was torn and crumpled, as though it had been the
subject of a struggle.

Then I remembered that I had seen it crushed in Miss Vaughan's
unconscious fingers, and I recalled how the fingers had stiffened when
Godfrey tried to remove it, as though some instinct in her sought to
guard it, even in the face of death.

"But I don't understand," said Simmonds, who was staring over the
other shoulder. "What's that thing got to do with the finger-prints?"

"Look here," said Godfrey, and held the glove so that the ends of the
fingers lay in the full light.

Then I saw that against the end of every finger had been glued a strip
of rubber, about an inch in length and half as wide; and, bending
closer, I perceived that the surface of each of these strips was
covered with an intricate pattern of minute lines.

"Forged finger-prints! That's a new idea in crime, isn't it,
Simmonds?" and Godfrey laughed excitedly.

Simmonds took the glove, got out his pocket-glass, and examined the
finger-tips minutely.

"You think these reproduce Swain's finger-prints?" he asked, sceptically.

"I'm sure they do! You see it's the right hand; look at the thumb--you
see it's a double whorl. Wait till we put them side by side with
Swain's own, and you'll see that they correspond, line for line. Yes,
and look at those stains. Do you know what those stains are, Simmonds?
They're blood. Did you notice the stains, doctor?"

"Yes," said Hinman. "I think they're blood-stains. That will be easy
enough to determine."

"Whose blood is it?" asked Simmonds, and I could see that even his
armour had been penetrated.

"Well," answered Godfrey, smiling, "science isn't able, as yet, to
identify the blood of individuals; but I'd be willing to give odds
that it's Swain's blood. My idea is that Silva got the blood for the
finger-prints from the blood-soaked handkerchief, which Swain probably
dropped when he fled from the arbour, and which Silva picked up and
dropped beside the chair, after he was through with it, as an
additional bit of evidence."

"That's reasonable enough," agreed Hinman, with a quick nod, "but what
I can't understand is how he made these reproductions."

Godfrey sat down again and contemplated the glove pensively for some
moments. Then he turned to me.

"Where is that book of finger-prints you spoke about, Lester?" he asked.

I went to the book-case and got it out. Godfrey took it and began to
turn the pages qu