e
present label. If he pasted it on before typing the address--which he
would most probably have done--he might well be unwilling to risk
destroying it by soaking it a second time."

"You think, then, there is a suspicion that the package may have been
tampered with?"

"There is no need to jump to conclusions," replied Thorndyke. "I merely
gave this case as an instance showing that careful examination of the
outside of a package or letter may lead us to bestow a little extra
attention on the contents. Now let us open it and see what those
contents are."

With a sharp knife he divided the outside cover, revealing a stout
cardboard box wrapped in a number of advertisement sheets. The box, when
the lid was raised, was seen to contain a single cigar--a large
cheroot--packed in cotton wool.

"A 'Trichy,' by Jove!" I exclaimed. "Your own special fancy, Thorndyke."

"Yes; and another anomaly, at once, you see, which might have escaped
our notice if we had not been on the _qui vive_."

"As a matter of fact, I _don't_ see," said I. "You will think me an
awful blockhead, but I don't perceive anything singular in a cigar
manufacturer sending a sample cigar."

"You read the label, I think?" replied Thorndyke. "However, let us look
at one of these leaflets and see what they say. Ah! here we are:
'Messrs. Bartlett and Sons, who own extensive plantations on the island
of Cuba, manufacture their cigars exclusively from selected leaves grown
by themselves.' They would hardly make a Trichinopoly cheroot from leaf
grown in the West Indies, so we have here a striking anomaly of an East
Indian cigar sent to us by a West Indian grower."

"And what do you infer from that?"

"Principally that this cigar--which, by the way, is an uncommonly fine
specimen and which I would not smoke for ten thousand pounds--is
deserving of very attentive examination." He produced from his pocket a
powerful doublet lens, with the aid of which he examined every part of
the surface of the cigar, and finally, both ends. "Look at the small
end," he said, handing me the cigar and the lens, "and tell me if you
notice anything."

I focussed the lens on the flush-cut surface of closely-rolled leaf, and
explored every part of it minutely.

"It seems to me," I said, "that the leaf is opened slightly in the
centre, as if a fine wire had been passed up it."

"So it appeared to me," replied Thorndyke; "and, as we are in agreement
so far, we will carry our inv