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                    BY RODRIGUES OTTOLENGUI


=An Artist in Crime.= 16^o, $1.00; paper, 50 cts.

=A Conflict of Evidence.= 16^o, $1.00; paper, 50 cts.

=A Modern Wizard.= 16^o, $1.00; paper, 50 cts.

=The Crime of the Century.= 16^o, $1.00; paper, 50 cts.

=Final Proof, or, the Value of Evidence.= 16^o, $1.00; paper, 50 cts.


                          G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

                           NEW YORK & LONDON




                              FINAL PROOF
                                   OR
                         THE VALUE OF EVIDENCE


                                   BY
                             R. OTTOLENGUI


       AUTHOR OF "AN ARTIST IN CRIME," "A CONFLICT OF EVIDENCE,"
                    "THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY," ETC.


                             [Illustration]


                          G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
                          NEW YORK AND LONDON
                        The Knickerbocker Press
                                  1898




                            Copyright, 1898
                                   BY
                          G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
                  Entered at Stationers' Hall, London


                   The Knickerbocker Press, New York




                               PREFATORY


The first meeting between Mr. Barnes, the detective, and Robert Leroy
Mitchel, the gentleman who imagines himself to be able to outdo
detectives in their own line of work, was fully set forth in the
narrative entitled _An Artist in Crime_. Subsequently the two men
occupied themselves with the solution of a startling murder mystery, the
details of which were recorded in _The Crime of the Century_. The
present volume contains the history of several cases which attracted
their attention in the interval between those already given to the
world, the first having occured shortly after the termination of the
events in _An Artist in Crime_, and the others in the order here given,
so that in a sense these stories are continuous and interdependent.

                                                               R. O.




                                CONTENTS


                                                            PAGE

                                   I
        THE PHOENIX OF CRIME                                   1

                                   II
        THE MISSING LINK                                     132

                                  III
        THE NAMELESS MAN                                     151

                                   IV
        THE MONTEZUMA EMERALD                                169

                                   V
        A SINGULAR ABDUCTION                                 189

                                   VI
        THE AZTEC OPAL                                       210

                                  VII
        THE DUPLICATE HARLEQUIN                              230

                                  VIII
        THE PEARLS OF ISIS                                   261

                                   IX
        A PROMISSORY NOTE                                    294

                                   X
        A NOVEL FORGERY                                      325

                                   XI
        A FROSTY MORNING                                     341

                                  XII
        A SHADOW OF PROOF                                    365




                              FINAL PROOF

                                   OR

                         THE VALUE OF EVIDENCE




                              FINAL PROOF

                                   I

                          THE PHOENIX OF CRIME

                                   I


Mr. Mitchel was still at breakfast one morning, when the card of Mr.
Barnes was brought to him by his man Williams.

"Show Mr. Barnes in here," said he. "I imagine that he must be in a
hurry to see me, else he would not call so early."

A few minutes later the detective entered, saying:

"It is very kind of you to let me come in without waiting. I hope that I
am not intruding."

"Not at all. As to being kind, why I am kind to myself. I knew you must
have something interesting on hand to bring you around so early, and I
am proportionately curious; at the same time I hate to go without my
coffee, and I do not like to drink it too fast, especially good coffee,
and this is good, I assure you. Draw up and have a cup, for I observe
that you came off in such a hurry this morning that you did not get
any."

"Why, thank you, I will take some, but how do you know that I came off
in a hurry and had no coffee at home? It seems to me that if you can
tell that, you are becoming as clever as the famous Sherlock Holmes."

"Oh, no, indeed! You and I can hardly expect to be as shrewd as the
detectives of romance. As to my guessing that you have had no coffee,
that is not very troublesome. I notice three drops of milk on your coat,
and one on your shoe, from which I deduce, first, that you have had no
coffee, for a man who has his coffee in the morning is not apt to drink
a glass of milk besides. Second, you must have left home in a hurry, or
you would have had that coffee. Third, you took your glass of milk at
the ferry-house of the Staten Island boat, probably finding that you had
a minute to spare; this is evident because the milk spots on the tails
of your frock-coat and on your shoe show that you were standing when you
drank, and leaned over to avoid dripping the fluid on your clothes. Had
you been seated, the coat tails would have been spread apart, and
drippings would have fallen on your trousers. The fact that in spite of
your precautions the accident did occur, and yet escaped your notice, is
further proof, not only of your hurry, but also that your mind was
abstracted,--absorbed no doubt with the difficult problem about which
you have come to talk with me. How is my guess?"

"Correct in every detail. Sherlock Holmes could have done no better. But
we will drop him and get down to my case, which, I assure you, is more
astounding than any, either in fact or fiction, that has come to my
knowledge."

"Go ahead! Your opening argument promises a good play. Proceed without
further waste of words."

"First, then