Stiles produced the document, and they went over its possibilities. Suddenly Courtenay started in astonishment. "Have you noticed anything peculiar about this will?" he asked. The lawyer looked at him with a somewhat blank expression. "Just what do you mean?" he said. "Ah, then you _have_ seen it! Were you going to let it pass unnoted?" "I must ask you to explain your enigmatical remarks." "And I will do so. That will has been tampered with, and you know it!" "Tampered with?" "Don't repeat my words like a parrot! Yes, tampered with. The original, written in Mr. Stannard's own hand, has been added to by some one else." "What makes you think so?" "I don't think so, I know so. Now, why haven't you made it known? You must have seen it?" "Where is the fancied alteration?" Courtenay looked at the stern face of the lawyer, and wondered if he could be dishonest or if he had been blind. He laid his finger on one clause, the one stating Natalie Vernon's bequest, and said, "There, that is the place. That was written seven thousand dollars, it has been changed to read seventy thousand dollars." Lawyer Stiles peered at the words through his rubber-rimmed glasses. "It is in letters and figures both," he demurred, "it would be difficult----" "I know it is. And it was not very difficult to add _ty_ to the written seven, and there chanced to be room for an extra cipher after the original naughts, thus giving the inheritor ten times as much as was intended by the testator." "Well?" "Well, do you, as a reputable lawyer, admit that you overlook a palpable fraud like that?" "I'm sorry you saw that, Mr. Courtenay. In explanation, I have nothing to say, but justice to myself compels me to remind you that I am in the confidence of the Stannard family, and this is their affair--not yours." "Whew!" Courtenay gave a short whistle. "I begin to see. They know it, and make no objection." "Y--yes." "Who knows it?" "Barry Stannard." "And Mrs. Stannard?" "I can't say. She read the will, but made no comment." "You're sure Barry knows?" "I am." "And he stands for it because Miss Vernon did it! That baby! Who'd think her capable of such a thing?" "Hush, Mr. Courtenay. You've no right to accuse her. You've no evidence that she did it. In fact, I'm told Miss Vernon writes a large, dashing hand, and this----" "And Eric Stannard's hand is small and cramped. Yes, a clever forgery. It looks quite a bit like his own writing. But the ink is different, the slant is different, why, a half blind man could see the words have been changed!" "Granting that. What matter, if Barry Stannard doesn't care? Moreover, he is going to marry Miss Vernon, and the fortune will be theirs jointly." "But don't you see? If Natalie Vernon altered that will, she wanted that larger sum, and--she----" "Don't say it. At least, don't say it to me. If you want to put the matter up to Barry, go ahead. But I decline to express an opinion or form a conclusion." "What does Barry say?"