“It was. He told me on his deathbed.”
“And it is gone now?”
“It is,” replied the Englishman.
“And now, Mr. Gosford,” said my father, “how do you know this will is gone unless you also know precisely where it was?”
“I do know precisely where it was, sir,” returned the man. “It was in the row of drawers on the right of the window where you stand—the second drawer from the top. Mr. Marshall put it there when he wrote it, and he told me on his deathbed that it remained there. You can see, sir, that the drawer has been rifled.”
My father looked casually at the row of mahogany drawers rising along the end of the bookcase. The second one and the one above were open; the others below were closed.
“Mr. Gosford,” he said, “you would have some interest in this will, to know about it so precisely.”
“And so I have,” replied the man, “it left me a sum of money.”
“A large sum?”
“A very large sum, sir.”