For a moment Quarles studied the paper.
"I think we may take his statements literally," he went on; "so unless the treasure was very small, small enough to be concealed inside a brick, it seems obvious that it was not hidden in the walls of the house, or it would have been found in the process of pulling down."
"If we are to be quite literal, we must remember that he says brick by brick," I pointed out. "It might therefore be hidden in a brick."
"I have thought of that," Quarles returned; "but in pulling down bricks would get broken, especially a hollow brick, as this would be. I think we may take the words to mean only total demolition, and that there is no special significance in the expression 'brick by brick.' Burning does away with the idea that the treasure may be hidden in woodwork."
"If he put it under a ground floor room or under a cellar neither pulling down nor a fire would disclose it," said Zena.
"Every flag in the cellars has been taken up," I answered; "and all the ground underneath the house has been dug up."
"Is there a well?" she asked.
"No; that was the first thing I looked for when I came there."
"He says in a room," Quarles went on. "I don't think that means a cellar."
"Do you think the treasure was small in bulk and placed in his coffin?" said Zena eagerly, leaning forward in her chair as she asked the question.