The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-04-05

cupboard in which the black tortoise
glistened-which wat opened by old
Frick-whi1e we others went into the
room and pulled the door almost to,
after us. There, sure enough, through
the opening, our gaze Involuntary fell
on the large mirror just opposite, and in
the glass we saw the reflection of the
cupboard and the shelf above it, with
the little elephant and the Venus de
Milo, and Clara's figure with her back
to US.
"Confound it allp shouted old Prick,
at is Just as Monk says. The rascal
has been standing in here and photo
graphing her."
Clara said she must also see it; she
went into the room. while | took her
place.
But Monk did not allow US to lose
any more time.
"Have you missed anything from the
6~re-proof room, Mr.. Frickf he asked.
1.-THE Englishnsan must have had some
reason fos providing himself with a key
to fit it,
NO." answered old Frick, after hav-
ing considered a moment. y keep moth
ing in here but documents and papers.
which only concern me. Money | al
ways kept in the iron safe in the Office"
There are two iron safes here" said
Monk.
Eyes" answered old Prick, I'm the
larger safe | keep family papers, ETC..
which are of no value to any one. In
the small one over there-which is OF
course nothing but an iron box, but is
provided with an unusually ingenious
lock- keep my will, and a list of what
/ possess
The large safe was opened, and q
lamp was brought in from the museum.
The safe, with its contents, was care
fully examined. but nothing unusual
could be discovered.
Now comes the turn of the box"
said Monk. "Will you help me to bring
it u into the museum, Frederick"
Although the whole thing was not
more than sixteen or twenty inches
square, it was So massive that we had
TO use all our strength to it out
into the daylight.
1t was a handsome steel box. the four
sides and the lid being ornamented with
chased srabesques.
Old Prick brought out a key of I'M
usual shape.
wait a bit, Mr.. Frick," said Monk,
holding up his arm when was the last
time fhts hox WAC onened ?"
six years ago." said Prick, slowly,
"when I altered my will-God be
praised that l can alter it yet once
againl"
did Mr.. Howell know anything
about the will?"
eyes, of course. I made him my
heir to all which does o go to chart
ties, and legacies, and suchlike. 1t is
about 10000. AT first | had divided it
equally between Sigrid, Einar, and him,
but then-then-well | don't think it
necessary to explain the rest but hen
came this business, and | struck Sigrid's
and Einar's m out"
"And he knew where you kept it,"
Eyes; a day or two before he left, |
read it to him, here in the museum, and
put it IN the box, while he was looking"
Monk was all the time examining the
box mos carefully, and some time
passed before he spoke.
q thought as much !" he exclaimed,
with his old genial smile. Look herep'
We stopped down to see the better.
He had turned the box over so that
the side which had stood against the
wall in the 6re-proof room was upper
most. A number of artistically inter
woven spirals were chased in the steel.
With a penknife he scraped away the
rust and dirt from one of them,-it was
about FIVE or six inches in diameter. A
number of small, round spots could then
be seen. He took a pin, placed its point
on one of the spots, and pressed it,
when, to our great surprise, the needle
appeared to sink into the steel.
rs there a hammer here?" He looked
around, and his eye rested on an old
IKE from the bronze age. That will
do
A strong blow in the centre of the
circle-and to our great astonishment
the round steel dial disappeared into the
box.
well, hang it ALI" shouted old
Prick; but how in all the ~world.?"
1T is simple enough, but none the less
ingeniously done" answered Monk,
dryIy. Mr.. Howell couldn't manage
thealock, and so he bored a number of
small holes in one of the spirals, and
afterward, with a watch-saw. he sawed
through the space between them. He
has shown himself to be a clever crafts
man-that can't be denied. When he
had done what he wanted to do with
the contents, he replaced the piece, filled
the holes with putty, and smeared them
over with rust and dirt"