"A hundred ... a hundred and ten ... a hundred and twenty."
At a hundred and thirty-two he made the announcement:
"It is indeed the last. A wall blocks the staircase. About this also our ancestor was telling the truth."
"And are there three bricks let into the step?"
"There are."
"And a pick-ax?"
"It's here."
"Come: on getting to the top of the staircase and examining what we find there, every detail agrees with the will, so that we have only to carry out the good man's final instructions." She said: "Break down the wall, Webster. It's only a plaster partition."
At the first blow in fact the wall crumbled away, disclosing a small, low door.
"Goodness!" muttered the lawyer, who was no longer trying to dissemble his uneasiness. "The program is indeed being carried out item by item."