are nothing
like as good as would be made by any expert in signing other people's
names. The tail of the 'J' in James in these two letters runs up into
the 'a' but as you will notice the pen is taken off and the letter 'a'
starts afresh. Here on the contrary you see the pen has not been taken
off, but the upstroke of the 'J' runs on continuously into the 'a.' More
naturally it would be just the other way. In these two letters the
writer would be signing his name more hurriedly than to a formal deed,
and would be much more likely to run his letters into each other than
when making a formal signature on parchment.

"Looking through this glass you will observe also that although the
letters run on together there is a slight thickening in the upstroke
between each letter as if the writer had paused, though without taking
his pen off, to examine the exact method of making the next letter in a
copy lying before him. In the surname there are half a dozen points of
difference. To begin with, the whole writing slopes less than in the
other signatures. In both your father's letters the cross of the first
't' is much lower than usual and almost touches the top of the 'r' and
i.' The same peculiarity is shown in the second 't' in both letters,
while on the deed the 't's' are crossed a good deal higher. The whole
word is more cramped, the flourish at the end of the 'n' is longer but
less free. In the capital letter, the two downstrokes are a good deal
closer together. There has been the same pause between each letter as
those I pointed out in the Christian name, and indeed the glass shows
you the pen was altogether taken off the paper between the 'o' and the
'n,' as the writer studied that final flourish. My opinion is that it is
not only a forgery but a clumsy one, and would be detected at once by
anyone who had the original signatures before him. I will even go so far
as to say that I doubt if any bank clerk well acquainted with Mr.
Hartington's signature would pass it."

"And now for the blot," Cuthbert said. "There was a blot somewhere near
the signature of Mr. Harford."

"Don't tell me where it was, Mr. Harford. I would rather not know its
exact position."

With the aid of the magnifying glass the expert carefully examined the
parchment and then held it up to the light.

"The blot was in the middle of the signature and involved the letters
'a' and 'r.' Is that right?"

"That is right, Mr. Cooper; he used blotting paper t