“Clever work!” said North. “Now, Mrs Varian, have you a really good safe?”
“Yes, I have. My husband had it sent up here with our trunks. It looks like a wardrobe trunk, but it is a modern and secure safe.”
The safe was in a closet in the library, and as the men examined it, they agreed that it was a good safe and proof against even a most skilful burglar.
“Unless he carries it off,” suggested North. “It’s not very large.”
“But it’s very heavy,” Minna said, “and besides, it’s clamped to the floor.”
They put the parcel of money in the safe, tucked it well back behind less important matters, and Minna herself closed the door.
“I’ll use the same combination Fred used,” she said, “nobody on earth knows it but myself.”
“Keep it to yourself, Mrs Varian,” North counseled her, “a secret shared is no secret.”
“I’m not afraid to trust you two,” Minna returned, “but I won’t tell any one else.”
“You’ve had no further communication from the kidnappers?” asked Granniss.