The inner door was open—­the flashlight’s ray was flooding a nest of pigeonholes and little drawers.  The pigeonholes were crammed with papers, as, presumably, too, were the drawers.  Jimmie Dale sucked in his breath.  He had already been there well over half an hour—­every minute now, every second was counting against him, and to search that mass of papers before Stangeist returned was—­

“Ah!”—­it came in a fierce little ejaculation from Jimmie Dale.  From the centre pigeonhole, almost the first paper he had touched, he drew a long, sealed envelope and at a single swift glance had read the inscription upon it, written in longhand: 

TO THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY, NEW YORK CITY.

Important.  Urgent.

The words in the corners were underscored three times.

Swiftly, deftly, Jimmie Dale’s hands rolled the rounded end of one of his collection of the legal instruments under the flap of the envelope, turned the sheets over and drew out the folded document inside.  There were eight sheets of legal foolscap, neatly fastened together at the top left-hand corner with green tape.  He opened them out, read a few words here and there, and turned the pages hurriedly over to scrutinise the last one—­and nodded grimly.  Three witnesses had testified to the signature of Stangeist, and a notary’s seal, accompanied by the usual legal formula, was duly affixed.

Jimmie Dale slipped the document into his pocket, and, with the envelope in his hand, moved to the desk.  He opened first one drawer and then another, and finally discovering a pile of blank foolscap, took out four sheets, folded them, and placed them in the envelope, sealing the flap of the latter again.  That it did not seal very well now brought a quizzical twitch to Jimmie Dale’s lips.  Sealed or unsealed, perhaps, it made little difference; but, for all that, he was not through with it yet.  Apart from bringing the four to justice, there was, after all, a chance to vindicate the Gray Seal in this matter at least, and repudiate the newspaper theory which the public, to whom the Gray Seal was already a monster of iniquity, would seize upon with avidity.

There was no further need of light now.  Jimmie Dale replaced the flashlight in his pocket, took out the thin, metal case, opened it, and with the tiny pair of tweezers that likewise nestled there, lifted out one of the gray, diamond-shaped paper seals.  There was no question but that, once under arrest, Stangeist’s effects would be immediately and thoroughly searched by the authorities!  Jimmie Dale’s smile from quizzical became ironic.  It would afford the police another little, bewildering reminder of the Gray Seal, and give Carruthers, good old Carruthers of the morning news-Argus, so innocently ignorant that the Gray Seal was his old college pal, yet the one editor of them all who was not forever barking and yelping at the Gray Seal’s heels, a chance to vindicate himself a little, too!  Jimmie Dale moistened the adhesive side of the gray seal, and, still mindful of tell-tale finger prints, laid it with the tweezers on the flap of the envelope, and pressed it firmly into place with his elbow.