Come here, Hugh!--you, too, have a look.

And--there's no need for any very close or careful looking, either!--no need for expert calligraphic evidence, or for the use of microscopes.

I'll stake all I'm worth that that signature and that letter are the work of the same hand!" Now that I saw the Smeaton letter and the signature of the first witness to Gilverthwaite's will, side by side, I had no hesitation in thinking as Mr.Lindsey did.

It was an exceptionally curious, not to say eccentric, handwriting--some of the letters were oddly formed, other letters were indicated rather than formed at all.

It seemed impossible that two different individuals could write in that style; it was rather the style developed for himself by a man who scorned all conventional matters, and was as self-distinct in his penmanship as he probably was in his life and thoughts.