"Bah!" cried Artis. "Presence of the dead, indeed! Presence of a mummy. Would you have me pull a long face as I went through the British Museum?" "I would have you behave--" "You look here," cried Artis, sharply. "You are executor, and this treasure, if there was one, lay in your charge. It's nothing to me. If it were, I should call in the police." "Mr Capel," cried the old lawyer excitedly, "I swear to you, sir, that the money and jewels were there a fortnight ago. I came down here with Ramo, and there lay the two cases with their contents." "Well?" said Capel, "what then?" "We carefully closed up the place." "Then somebody must have been down since, and taken the treasure away." "Only two men could have done this, sir, Ramo and myself." "That throws it on to you," said Artis. "And my reputation, sir, will bear me out when I proclaim my innocence." "I don't know," said Artis. "Sudden temptation; kleptomania and that sort of thing." The old lawyer turned his back. "Mr Gerard Artis, this is no time for such remarks as these," said Capel. "Mr Girtle, what have you to say?" "At present, nothing, sir. I am astounded. You know we came down on that dreadful morning, and found the chamber intact; besides it could not have been forced." "There were the keys," said Artis. "But they have never left my person. There were but the two sets of keys--the Colonel's and mine. Those were the Colonel's set that we found upon Ramo." "Rather strange that the Colonel should have given you a set," said Artis. "No more strange than that a gentleman should trust a banker," said Capel. "What, going to side with the lawyer?" Capel made no reply, only gazed searchingly at the old executor. "There may have been other keys, Mr Girtle." "Oh, no. The place was made some years ago, for a sarcophagus, and the makers never imagined that it would be used for a safe." There was a dead silence. "Let us search again. The cases may have slipped aside." "It is impossible," said the old lawyer; and as they two passed into the iron chamber, Artis exchanged a glance with Katrine, while the old butler stood looking dazed. "You see," said Mr Girtle, holding down the light, "there is nowhere for the cases to have slipped; all is of plain, solid steel, without a corner or crack." "But underneath," said Capel. "Underneath? Look for yourself," said Mr Girtle; "where there is not solid steel there is solid iron, and beneath that, massive stone. The treasure seems to have been spirited away." "That's it," said Artis. "The old man was not satisfied, and he got up out of his coffin and hid it somewhere else." Capel caught Artis by the collar. "I will not--" he began; but mastering his indignant anger he let fall his arm. "There is nothing here," he said; "let us look about the outside."