'
'I knew a case once where an heir who expected a large sum of money
was bequeathed a family Bible, which he threw into the fire, learning
afterwards, to his dismay, that it contained many thousands of pounds
in Bank of England notes, the object of the devisor being to induce
the legatee to read the good Book or suffer through the neglect of
it.'
'I have searched the Scriptures,' said the youthful Earl with a laugh,
'but the benefit has been moral rather than material.'
'Is there any chance that your uncle has deposited his wealth in a
bank, and has written a cheque for the amount, leaving it between two
leaves of a book?'
'Anything is possible, monsieur, but I think that highly improbable. I
have gone through every tome, page by page, and I suspect very few of
the volumes have been opened for the last twenty years.'
'How much money do you estimate he accumulated?'
'He must have cleared more than a hundred thousand pounds, but
speaking of banking it, I would like to say that my uncle evinced a
deep distrust of banks, and never drew a cheque in his life so far as
I am aware. All accounts were paid in gold by this old steward, who
first brought the receipted bill in to my uncle, and then received the
exact amount, after having left the room, and waited until he was rung
for, so that he might not learn the repository from which my uncle
drew his store.
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