The safe is empty,
and I gave no more thought to it.'
Saying this the earl went to one of the bookcases that stood against
the wall, pulled it round as if it were a door, books and all, and
displayed the front of an iron safe, the door of which he also drew
open, exhibiting the usual empty interior of such a receptacle.
'I came on this,' he said, 'when I took down all these volumes. It
appears that there was once a secret door leading from the library
into an outside room, which has long since disappeared; the walls are
very thick. My uncle doubtless caused this door to be taken off its
hinges, and the safe placed in the aperture, the rest of which he then
bricked up.'
'Quite so,' said I, endeavouring to conceal my disappointment. 'As
this strong box was bought second-hand and not made to order, I
suppose there can be no secret crannies in it?'
'It looks like a common or garden safe,' reported my assistant, 'but
we'll have it out if you say so.'
'Not just now,' I replied; 'we've had enough of dynamiting to make us
feel like housebreakers already.'
'I agree with you. What's the next item on the programme?'
'Your uncle's mania for buying things at second-hand was broken in
three instances so far as I have been able to learn from a scrutiny of
these accounts.
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