Here are some sheets of paper he got from Budge Row. Have
you ever seen anything like it? Try to tear this sample.'
'It's reasonably tough,' admitted his lordship, fruitlessly
endeavouring to rip it apart.
'Yes. It was made in France, and is used in gold beating. Your uncle
beat his sovereigns into gold-leaf. You will find that the book from
Denny's is a volume on gold beating, and now as I remember that
scribbled word which I could not make out, I think the title of the
volume is "Metallurgy". It contains, no doubt, a chapter on the
manufacture of gold-leaf.'
'I believe you,' said the earl; 'but I don't see that the discovery
sets us any further forward. We're now looking for gold-leaf instead
of sovereigns.'
'Let's examine this wallpaper,' said I.
I placed my knife under a corner of it at the floor, and quite easily
ripped off a large section. As Higgins had said, the brown paper was
on top, and the coarse, light-coloured paper underneath. But even that
came away from the oak panelling as easily as though it hung there
from habit, and not because of paste.
'Feel the weight of that,' I cried, handing him the sheet I had torn
from the wall.
'By Jove!' said the earl, in a voice almost of awe.
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