I am certain the book will give us a clue. Now,
I shall write to Braun and Sons, Budge Row. This is evidently a French
company; in fact, the name as connected with paper-making runs in my
mind, although I cannot at this moment place it. I shall ask them the
use of this paper that they furnished to the late earl.'
This was done accordingly, and now, as we thought, until the answers
came, we were two men out of work. Yet the next morning, I am pleased
to say, and I have always rather plumed myself on the fact, I solved
the mystery before replies were received from London. Of course, both
the book and the answer of the paper agents, by putting two and two
together, would have given us the key.
After breakfast, I strolled somewhat aimlessly into the library, whose
floor was now strewn merely with brown wrapping paper, bits of string,
and all that. As I shuffled among this with my feet, as if tossing
aside dead autumn leaves in a forest path, my attention was suddenly
drawn to several squares of paper, unwrinkled, and never used for
wrapping. These sheets seemed to me strangely familiar. I picked one
of them up, and at once the significance of the name Braun and Sons
occurred to me. They are paper makers in France, who produce a smooth,
very tough sheet, which, dear as it is, proves infinitely cheap
compared with the fine vellum it deposed in a certain branch of
industry.
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