Yes, there was a piece of circumstantial evidence which might have helped to convict my friend had he been on his trial in a criminal court.

The red tape bore the mark of the place in which it had been tied for half a century; and a little way within this mark the trace of a very recent tying.

Some of the letters had been extracted, and the tape had been tied anew.
I had no doubt that this had been done while my negotiation with Mr.
Goodge had been pending.

What was I to do?
Refuse the letters, and demand to have my principal's money returned to me?
I knew my friend well enough to know that such a proceeding would be about as useless as it would be to request the ocean to restore a cup of water that had been poured into it.

The letters he had given me might or might not afford some slight link in the chain I was trying to put together; and the letters withheld from me might be more or less valuable than those given to me.