Christopher Quarles: College Professor and Master DetectiveBrebner, Percy James
General
Christopher Quarles: College Professor and Master Detective
Brebner, Percy James
College teachers -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories
"We haven't counted it yet," was the answer. "Let as consider the
points. The first is this: Nine years before his death Mr. Ottershaw
made his will, frankly expressing a wish that he could take his money
with him. Therefore, I think we may assume that he was not in love
with his relatives, and was not delighted that his death should profit
them. The next sentence in the will seems to express a doubt as to
whether the treasure could be taken or not, and I suggest that
something occurred about that time to make it appear feasible. So we
get a riddle, and if it is to be read literally, as I believe it is
meant to be, there can apparently be only one possible
hiding-place--somewhere in the ground underneath the house. This is so
obvious that one would hardly expect it to be the solution, and so
there is particular significance in his statement that he didn't send
it out of the house. He hid it, he says, when he was alone in one of
the rooms. Let us suppose it was his bedroom. From there he certainly
could not bury his treasure in the ground. We have decided that the
hiding-place could not be in any part of the brickwork or in the
woodwork, therefore we are driven to the conclusion that it was placed
in some piece of furniture or some receptacle made for the purpose.
Since I believe he thought it possible to take his wealth with him,
the latter supposition seems to me the more probable."
"In banknotes a large sum would only occupy a small space," I said.
"I don't think the treasure was in money," said Quarles. "The fact
that a diamond was given to Sims and not money suggests that the
treasure was in precious stones. If he spent everything he could in
this way, giving hard cash for a gem, and thus doing away with the
necessity for inquiry and references, the lack of evidence regarding
his wealth is partly explained. Great wealth can be sunk in a very
small parcel of gems, and if he hoped to take his wealth with him it
must be small in bulk."
"So that it could be placed in his coffin, you mean," said Zena.
"Sims declares nothing was placed in his coffin," said Quarles; "he is
most definite upon the point."
"And I have already pointed out that since he wished to be cremated
Mr. Ottershaw would hardly make any such arrangement," I said.
"He may have wished to be cremated, but he may not have expected to
be," said Quarles. "As a matter of fact, he left certain instructions
which point to a doubt. Sims was to lay him out and see that he was
decently cared for. So anxious was Mr. Ottershaw about this that he
left a letter for Sims to show to the Bryants. This is a most
significant fact."
"Then you suspect the man Sims," said Zena.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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