The recipient, on receipt of the packet, addressed this letter to the Postmaster-General:— “DEAR SIR,—The addressee of the enclosed envelope was the recipient recently of the empty envelope and fillings which I beg to enclose for your inspection. The packet originally contained a pair of black kid gloves sent by Mr. J. Jones, Montreal. The gloves were evidently abstracted in Montreal, as a paper filling, a Montreal newspaper, was used as a blind to fill up the package. I can assure you that it could not have been the nature of a joke. If you can help me in this matter you will confer a favour on yours truly, ——” Notice the Sherlock-Holmes-like touch in tracing the theft to Montreal. The Post Office again “helped” with this letter. “Inquiry will certainly be made on the receipt of a description from the sender of any article missing from the packet. It is, however, pointed out that the postage prepaid is only sufficient for the present contents and would not carry a pair of gloves, that the cover bears the name of a toy company, and that the superscription may perhaps be a jocular allusion _to the black figures of undressed children enclosed in the envelope_.” Every year the Postmaster-General makes the same appeal to the erring British public; he tells them the same pitiful tale of undelivered letters and parcels; he begs that ordinary care and discretion may be observed; and yet the trouble goes on. It is curious how the educated public as well as the uneducated fail in this matter. CHAPTER IX MONEY ORDERS AND POSTAL ORDERS