‘Very good. Then I may admit I misled you about the contents of the cask, though I told you the literal and absolute truth. The cask is full of plaques—plaques of kings and queens. Isn’t that statuary? And if the plaques should be small and made of gold and called sovereigns, aren’t they still statuary? That is what the cask contains, Mr. Inspector. Sovereigns. £988 in gold.’
‘What else?’
‘Nothing else.’
‘Oh, come now, Mr. Felix. We knew there was money in the cask. We also know there is something else. Think again.’
‘Oh, well, there will be packing, of course. I haven’t opened it and I don’t know. But £988 in gold would go a small way towards filling it. There will be sand or perhaps alabaster or some other packing.’
‘I don’t mean packing. Do you distinctly tell me no other special object was included?’
‘Certainly, but I suppose I’d better explain the whole thing.’
He stirred the embers of the fire together, threw on a couple of logs and settled himself more comfortably in his chair.
CHAPTER V