Report books

The values were from sixpence to one pound, and they
were kept in a portfolio.
After a long calculation the Consul suddenly raised his face to me and
said--
"Then six ten shilling ones have been taken!"
"Why? There must be some motive!"
"They are of no use to anyone except to Consuls," he explained. "Perhaps
they were wanted to affix to some false certificate. See," he added,
opening the portfolio, "there were six stamps here, and all are gone."
"But they would have to be obliterated by the Consular stamp," remarked
Cavendish.
"Ah! of course," exclaimed Hutcheson, taking out the brass seal from the
safe and examining it minutely. "By Jove!" he cried a second later,
"it's been used! They've stamped some document with it. Look! They've
used the wrong ink-pad! Can't you see that there's violet upon it, while
we always use the black pad!"
I took it in my hand, and there, sure enough, I saw traces of violet ink
upon it--the ink of the pad for the date-stamp upon the Consul's table.


Pages:
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49