"
Gantry took the dummy packet from his pocket and held one of the blank
sheets up to the light of the window. It was growing dusk, and when he
failed to discern what he was looking for, he turned on the electric
lights and tried again. At this the script "T-C" water-mark was plainly
visible, and he showed it to Blount.
"That proves conclusively that the substitution was made here in your
own office. Whom do you suspect?"
In a flash Blount remembered: how he had sent Collins to get the packet
out of the safe, the stenographer's delay, the hasty sealing of the
envelope, and the suspicion which had been cut short by the incoming of
Ackerton.
"I know now who did it, and when it was done," he said. "The day before
the office was broken into I told Collins to bring me the papers from
the safe. What he brought me was that dummy--in a freshly sealed
envelope. I was going to open the envelope, but just then Ackerton
came in."
"All clear so far," said Gantry; and then: "Where is Collins now?"
"I don't know; he comes and goes pretty much as he pleases when I'm not
in town."
"Do you know anything about him personally?"
"No."
"I do. His father was a bank cashier, and he became a defaulter--of the
easy-mark kind; the kind that is too good-natured to look too curiously
at a friend's collateral. He would have gone over the road if your
father hadn't pulled him out by main strength.
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