The _mis-sent_ package referred to, arrived at the office in H. on the evening of the day that it left Boston, and should have been remailed and forwarded on the following morning; but a close examination of the contents of the mail-bag soon after it left H., failed to bring to light the hidden treasure. No package for Rouse's Point made its appearance. This, however, did not make out a clear case against the "persecuted" official, neither did it justify his arrest. It occurred to me, on failing to find the letters referred to, that the wrapper in which they had been enclosed, might have been used in sending off other letters that morning, it being the custom in most of the smaller offices, as a matter of economy, to use the same wrappers several times by turning or reversing them. A short search produced the paper in question, which I removed from the package it enclosed, and substituted another in its place. Here was an additional proof that the decoy package had reached the office at H., and had been opened, as the new address upon the wrapper was in the post master's hand-writing. He could not therefore say that he had never received such a package at his office, or should he make such an assertion, as he would be very likely to do if he were guilty, the production of this envelope would shut his mouth, and go far to prove his evil intentions. But the case, at this stage, was very far from being a clear one against him, and he yet had a chance, if he were an honest man, of coming out triumphant over the efforts of malice, and the wiles of his "persecutors." The removal of the wrapper and its use in enclosing other packages was all natural enough, being, as I have said, agreeable to the frequent custom in such small offices, and even the non-appearance of the Rouse's Point letters might yet be accounted for on the supposition that he had laid them aside to be forwarded, and had forgotten them; or that not observing the name of the town to which they were addressed, he had placed them in the "general delivery," where they might at that moment be lying unmolested. Desirous of affording the suspected man a fair chance to prove his innocence in this matter, if that were possible, and acting in accordance with the above-mentioned charitable suppositions, I allowed two other opportunities of remailing the letters to pass, but after searching in vain for them on both occasions, I resolved to wait upon the post master and talk over freely and frankly the subject of his enemies' attacks, believing that he would not for a moment dream that I had any connection with the missing package, even if he had purloined it,--a calculation which afterwards proved to be perfectly correct.