"Wait a minute. These vertical lines, we say, divide the words of the message. There are five words to the line; only two on the last line before the signature; that is to say, twelve words in the message. Now, consider the first word. Evidently the 'G' begins this word, since it is a capital; and the flourish on the tail of the 'e' tells us plainly enough where the word ends. Note the space between the 'G' and the 'e.' Have you ever taken the trouble to ascertain how constant in any given handwriting is the space occupied by the different letters? Try it some time. Count the characters which you have written in a number of different lines, reckoning spaces and punctuation marks each as one character, and observe how closely the results will tally. Basing my conclusion on this fact, I may safely affirm that the first word of the message is 'Game, 'Gave, 'Give, ' or some other word of four letters beginning with 'G' and ending with 'e.' I shall proceed to fill up the balance of the message as I read it between the letters." Sturgis wrote slowly and carefully for a few minutes. "There; behold the result." The message had now assumed this form: [Illustration: _Dec., 31, 1896._ _Thomas Chatham_, _----, B'way, City_. _Game | up | Meet | me | to-day corner | South | and | Wall | streets four | thirty_ _J. W. Arbogast._ ] "Compare this with the reflection of the original and tell me if you do not now detect various isolated marks and incomplete letters, all of which tally with the text I have inserted here." Dunlap made the comparison. "I am obliged to admit that your conclusions now appear plausible," he reluctantly admitted. Sturgis shrugged his shoulders. "Well, call them plausible and let us proceed. Chatham kept the appointment yesterday; but for some reason Arbogast was delayed in leaving the bank. Perhaps the necessary preparations for his flight took longer than he expected." "You think he intended to abscond?" "Why should he have changed the combination of his safe, as he did, if not to give himself as much time as possible to reach a place of comparative safety before the books could be examined?" asked Sturgis. "Chatham, becoming impatient, forgot the dictates of prudence and started for the bank to ascertain the cause of his accomplice's delay. He met Arbogast at the Wall Street door. The two men re-entered, Arbogast setting down his satchel in the vestibule and leaving the outer door ajar, as Quinlan found it a few minutes later, when he stole the satchel. I have every reason to believe that it was at Chatham's request that the men returned. He wished to use the telephone, and he did so." "Your story is connected, and it is certainly not lacking in details," said Dunlap incredulously; "in fact, the details are far too abundant for the evidence thus far advanced."