Opening the envelope in the presence of the company, a number of papers, stock certificates, tax receipts, bankbooks, etc., and a small, sealed envelope superscribed "My last will and testament," were brought forth. "Before you produce the will which that small envelope holds," said Nick Carter. "I will venture a prediction of its contents. You will find it to be an exact reproduction in wording and handwriting of this model."--holding out one of the will copies taken from the body of Dimitri Goloff. The coroner's eyes widened. But he said nothing. Jackson Feversham opened the envelope, read the will with an amazed countenance, and then compared it with the copy which Nick had handed to him. "You are right, Mr. Carter," he said. "The will I took from the envelope is a facsimile of the one you gave me. But I--I don't understand. The idea is abhorrent. I can't believe that James Playfair, in his right mind, ever made that wretch, Arthur Mannion, his heir." "Sit down, Mr. Feversham," said Nick, with a look charged with reassurance, "and I will try to make matters clear to you and at the same time relieve your mind. And I will also try to satisfy the curiosity of our friend the coroner. The will you found in the bank deposit box is a forgery." "But," said Feversham, "it is in James Playfair's handwriting. I would be willing to swear to that." "I will admit that it is an almost perfect imitation of Playfair's handwriting," replied the detective, "and that the imitation cannot probably be duplicated by any man in the United States--barring, of course, Arthur Mannion--but I cannot admit that it is genuine." "It may be hard to prove that it is not genuine," put in the coroner. Feversham, who, since he had last spoken, had been looking closely at the handwriting of the will, nodded his head at the coroner's words. "It would deceive an expert," was his comment, given in a tone of mingled sadness and disgust. "I know Playfair's handwriting--every peculiarity of it, and there is not a flaw in this document." "All the same," replied Nick Carter imperturbably, "we are going to prove that it is a rank forgery. How? Mainly by these copies. Don't you see their importance? Standing alone, the will might be unassailable, but when it is opposed by these copies, which upon their face show indubitable evidence of the process by which all the peculiarities of Playfair's handwriting were reproduced--the careful steps leading from crudity to perfection--the forgery is unmasked. Why, in the hands of the veriest tyro in legal practise, the story of the cheat would be primer reading to a jury even of asses.