"It depends on what you call serious. It probably means the difference between affluence and beggary. That's all."
"On one point you must allow me to make an observation. The will was not in the bag."
"The will was not in the bag!"
There was a quality in the lady's voice which made Mr. Roland quail. He hastened to proceed.
"I have here all which it contained."
He produced a neat packet, in which were discovered four keys, two handkerchiefs, scraps of what might be chocolate, a piece of pencil, a pair of brown shoe-laces. She regarded the various objects with unsympathetic eyes.
"It also contained the will."
"I can only assure you that I saw nothing of it; nor my sister either. Surely a thing of that kind could hardly have escaped our observation."
"In that bag, Mr. Roland, is a secret pocket; intended to hold--secure from observation--banknotes, letters, or private papers. The will was there. Did you or your sister, in the course of your investigations, light upon the secret of that pocket?"
Something of the sort he had feared. He rubbed his hands together, almost as if he were wringing them.