- cluding the blotting paper in the writing-pad on the
desk, which he finally lifted carefully and held before the mirror to examine the few ink-marks it showed. Of these he took note in a small memorandum book. They seemed to be the only things that struck his attention particularly. Then he rang and told Mary to ask Mrs. Parlin to come to the library.
"Is that the blotting-pad that was here that night?" he asked. "And you were the first one who came to this desk in the morning?" when she had answered him as to the identity of the pad. "And there was no letter on the desk?"
"None."
"Then, evidently he had not written the letter he told you of?"
"Evidently not," she assented.
"Then he must have been killed before he had time to write?"
"It would seem so."
"And, therefore, probably very soon after you left him?"
"I can see no other conclusion, unless he changed his mind and didn't write," she assented.
