The detective opened the paper, the seals of which had already been broken when Frank first found it, and perused it in silence.
"My boy," said he, as he came to the end, "let me tell you that this document is likely to prove of the greatest value to you. In it the testator—your grandfather, you say he is—relates that he has converted all his property, valued at over half a million, into gold and gems and has buried it in a place described in a sealed parchment which ought to accompany this will. All of this is to be yours at the age of twenty-two, under certain conditions; until then the document is to be secret, and its contents remain unknown. Now, where is that sealed parchment? That's the question before the house!"
"I'm sure I can't tell," replied Frank, in astonishment. "It may be with the other papers in the box. Half a million! and all for me! And we all thought my grandfather died poor!"
"It is very evident he did nothing of the sort. Jeremiah Mansfield—Jeremiah Mansfield—let me see—wasn't that the miserly old fellow who was murdered in Harlem some five years ago?"
"Yes: his house was entered by burglars in the night. They killed him, and no property except the old house was ever found, although until then my father thought him to be rich."
"And it seems he was right," replied Hook, musingly. "Then your father was Francis Mansfield, the foreign importer, who was said—who——"
"They said he stole one hundred thousand dollars of the funds of a European house intrusted to his keeping!" cried Frank, with deeply flushed face, "but it was false. The money arrived too late for deposit, father put it over night in his safe. Burglars entered the store that night, blew up the safe and stole every cent. It killed my father to be thought a defaulter, drove my mother mad, and ruined us all."
"Just so," answered the detective; "I remember it all perfectly well. It was a sad case, indeed."
For a few moments he remained silently musing, still holding the open paper in his hand.
"Who is this man Callister?" he asked, at length. "Is it the Wall street speculator of that name?"