"Well, everything here seems all right; it is exactly as I wrote it myself. The coachman and gardener have signed as witnesses. I gave them each five thousand kroners cash, to avoid including them among the legatees."
"Are you quite sure, Mr. Frick?" said Monk, as he leant over the paper. "Here is a figure which looks as if it had been erased."
"Let me see! Yes—what the devil is this? My house, property, shares, etc.," he read, "which, according to the list, amount to about 1,000,000 kroners,—but, bless me! I possess nearer 1,900,000, which is nearly the double, and that was what I wrote—"
"There you are! We shall get at it, little by little," said Monk, with his most genial smile. I hadn't seen him in such a good humour for a long time.
"But I don't understand," grumbled old Frick. "What motive can he have in making me out to be poorer than I am? He doesn't get the 900,000 kroners which have been erased!"
"Let us look at the list and the mortgages," answered Monk, just as genially. "We shall be sure to find the solution."
The other envelope was opened.
I read out the list, and old Frick opened the mortgages and deeds in the order I read:—
"No. 177 Drammen Road, 'deed.'"
"Yes, here it is."