"Huh!" I snorted to myself, "confound him."

Yet I could not help smiling at my own folly, a minute later, in
thinking that the Clutching Hand would leave any information in
such an obvious place as an envelope. I threw the paper into a
wire basket on the desk and went on sorting the other stuff.

Kennedy had by this time finished unpacking the box, and was
examining a bottle which he had taken from it.

"Come here, Walter," he called at length. "Ever see anything like
that?"

"I can't say," I confessed, getting up to go to him. "What is it?"

"Bring a piece of paper." he added.

I went back to the desk where I had been working and looked about
hastily. My eye fell on the blank sheet of paper which I had taken
from Bennett's envelope, and I picked it up from the basket.

"Here's one," I said, handing it to him. "What are you doing?"

Kennedy did not answer directly, but began to treat the paper with
the liquid from the bottle. Then he lighted a Bunsen burner and
thrust the paper into the flame. The paper did not burn!

"A new system of fire-proofing," laughed Craig, enjoying my
astonishment.