"He didn't," Berrington explained. "Miss Sartoris, or Miss Grey as I prefer to call her, told me all about that. The house was taken four years ago and occupied by an American electrical engineer whom Sartoris knew quite well. It was he who put in all these dodges. When he died, Sartoris took the place, doubtless feeling that he might be able to use the mysteries here to good effect. I don't suppose at that time that he knew anything about the full value of Sir Charles Darryll's concessions. But once he had to take action, then this room came in very usefully." "Do you know why they brought the body here?" Field asked. "Yes, I have a pretty good idea on that score. Sir Charles had certain papers in his room in the _Royal Palace Hotel_, and these people wanted to gain possession of them. The robbery was fixed to take place on the night of that dinner party. Mind you, Richford did not know anything about that, because Sartoris had kept him in the dark. Bentwood was to work it. Bentwood was to administer the drug, but he gave too much. The consequence was an overdose, as you may gather." Field smiled peculiarly, but he gave no hint as to the extent of his own discovery. "These people did not want a _post mortem_," Berrington said. "They did not desire that any traces of that practically unknown drug should be discovered." "And you think that they all ran that risk to guard their secret?" asked Field. "Well, you have provided me with one or two surprises, but I am going to provide you with as many before we go to bed. Have you discovered anything further?" "Oh, yes," said Berrington, "this collar, for instance. I am in a position to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Sir Charles wore it on the night of the dinner party. I found that down here in this very vault. No further proof is wanted that the body was here. But what puzzles me is this: we were so quickly on the spot that those rascals had not the slightest chance of disposing of the corpse. What then has become of it--why can't we find it? Now that one knows all about the ruby mines and the concessions--which appear to me to be very valuable--the mystery becomes tolerably clear. But the corpse, where is it?" "Are you quite sure that there is a corpse?" asked Field drily. "Let us go and ask Bentwood." Bentwood sat up and smiled as his two chief tormentors came back. He was ready to afford any information that the gentlemen required. "It is not much that I am going to ask," said Field. "Only this: Please take us at once to the spot where we can find the body of Sir Charles Darryll." Bentwood jumped nimbly to his feet. The question seemed to fairly stagger him. If he had thought of concealing anything, he abandoned the idea now. "Come this way, gentlemen," he said. "You are too many for me altogether. I wish to heaven that I had kept my medical discoveries to myself." CHAPTER XXXVIII