"Watkins is correct in his supposition. Your uncle did discuss his—ah—fancied discovery with me. Aside from the fact that he had made it whilst at Chesby—"
"At Chesby?" Hugh interrupted.
"So I understood. He came in to see me just before he started for Constantinople the last time. I should describe him as considerably excited. "By Jove, Bellowes,' he said, 'do you know, I've found the missing part of the Instructions?' I remember I pooh-poohed his claim, and instead of becoming angry, as he usually did, he laughed at me. "Oh, you may doubt,' he said, 'but I am going to Constantinople, and I shall soon know whether I am correct or not.'
"'You have been to Constantinople before,' I told him, 'but you never obtained any information.' 'I lacked the key,' was his answer. 'To think that all these years nobody ever found it!' I ventured to remind him of a mortgage coming due, which could be extended only at an increased rate, and he replied: 'We'll attend to that without any difficulty. I tell you, Bellowes, it's all perfectly plain in the missing half of the Instructions.' Then he had me get out the Charter Chest, saying he wished to go over the known half of the Instructions to see if there had not been a hint of the hiding-place in that or any of the other old documents."
"Was there?" questioned Hugh.
"If there was, he did not tell me, your lordship. He went away without any comment, and the next I saw of him was perhaps three weeks later when he returned from Constantinople. He was even more excited than he had been when he came up from Chesby. "I really think there's something in it,' he said. "I wish you'd have one of your young men send this cable to my nephew. I am going to need some young blood in this. It's there, Bellowes, I am persuaded, but we shall have to figure carefully on getting it out.'"
"Humph," said Hugh. "That's not much to go on. Do you know what he did with the missing half of the Instructions he said he found?"
"No, sir. He never showed it to me, and so far as I know, he did not have it in his possession when he was here."
"He wouldn't have carried it, or even a copy of it, if he had supposed others had an interest in it," I interposed.
"True," assented Hugh. "Well, let's have a look at the Charter Chest."