“I do not, sir.  I never saw either of them until to-day.”

“Has any one told you about the nature of these papers, so as to prejudice your mind in regard to any of them?”

“No, sir.  I have not exchanged a word with any one in regard to them.”

“What is your opinion of the two letters?”

“That they are veritable autographs.”

“How do you judge this?”

“From the harmony of the signatures with the text of the body of the letters, by the free and natural shaping and interflowing of the lines, and by a general impression of truthfulness which it is very difficult to communicate in words.”

“What do you think of the signatures to the assignment?”

“I think they are all counterfeits but one.”

“Prof.  Timms, this is a serious matter.  You should be very sure of the truth of a statement like this.  You say you think they are counterfeits:  why?”

“If the papers can be handed to me,” said the witness, “I will show what leads me to think so.”

The papers were handed to him, and, placing the letters on the bar on which he had been leaning, he drew from his pocket a little rule, and laid it lengthwise along the signature of Nicholas Johnson.  Having recorded the measurement, he next took the corresponding name on the assignment.

“I find the name of Nicholas Johnson of exactly the same length on the assignment that it occupies on the letter,” said he.

“Is that a suspicious circumstance?”

“It is, and, moreover,” (going on with his measurements) “there is not the slightest variation between the two signatures in the length of a letter.  Indeed, to the naked eye, one signature is the counterpart of the other, in every characteristic.”

“How do you determine, then, that it is anything but a genuine signature?”

“The imitation is too nearly perfect.”

“How can that be?”

“Well; no man writes his signature twice alike.  There is not one chance in a million that he will do so, without definitely attempting to do so, and then he will be obliged to use certain appliances to guide him.”

“Now will you apply the same test to the other signature?”

Prof.  Timms went carefully to work again with his measure.  He examined the form of every letter in detail, and compared it with its twin, and declared, at the close of his examination, that he found the second name as close a counterfeit as the first.

“Both names on the assignment, then, are exact fac-similes of the names on the autograph letters,” said Mr. Balfour.

“They are, indeed, sir—­quite wonderful reproductions.”

“The work must have been done, then, by a very skillful man,” said Mr. Balfour.

The professor shook his head pityingly.  “Oh, no, sir,” he said.  “None but bunglers ever undertake a job like this.  Here, sir, are two forged signatures.  If one genuine signature, standing alone, has one chance in a million of being exactly like any previous signature of the writer, two standing together have not one chance in ten millions of being exact fac-similes of two others brought together by chance.