‘I want you,’ he asked Mr. Huston, ‘to be so good as to show me all the papers you have referring to that cask, waybills, forward notes, everything.’
Mr. Huston disappeared, returning in a few seconds with some papers which he handed to Burnley. The latter examined them and then said:—
‘These seem to show that the cask was handed over to the French State Railway at their Rue Cardinet Goods Station, near the Gare St. Lazare, in Paris, by MM. Dupierre et Cie., carriage being paid forward. They ran it by rail to Rouen, where it was loaded on to your Bullfinch.’
‘That is so.’
‘I suppose you cannot say whether the Paris collection was made by a railway vehicle?’
‘No, but I should think not, as otherwise the cartage charges would probably show.’
‘I think I am right in saying that these papers are complete and correct in every detail?’
‘Oh yes, they are perfectly in order.’
‘How do you account for the cask being passed through by the Customs officials without examination?’
‘There was nothing suspicious about it. It bore the label of a well-known and reputable firm, and was invoiced as well as stencilled, ‘Statuary only.’ It was a receptacle obviously suitable for transporting such goods, and its weight was also in accordance. Unless in the event of some suspicious circumstance, cases of this kind are seldom opened.’