“I mean to find that out by an examination of the will at Somerset House, Dicky. Sorley enjoys Marie’s income and his own and has the benefit of living at The Monastery rent free. He is, as you know, crazy about jewels, and from what Marie tells me he uses all the cash to buy them. She only has her clothes and a few shillings a week for pocket money. But he never allows her to go into county society, nor does he take her to town.” Latimer removed his pipe and nodded. “He wants her to remain as a flower unseen until she is of age. Then he will hand over the accumulated money in the form of jewels, and will present her to an astonished world when she come of age in a year and his guardianship ceases.” “Hum!” said Alan dubiously, “so you say. But my impressions are quite different. It is my opinion that this precious guardian will not be able to render an honest account of his stewardship, but, when required to do so, will bolt with the jewels upon which he has squandered Marie’s money and with the fortune of the peacock if he can find the same.” “Is there any difficulty in finding it, Alan?” “Yes. In the first place the fortune is hidden and only by gaining possession of the peacock can the clue be found to its whereabouts. And in the second place, even if that bird——” “The ooff-bird,” suggested Latimer vulgarly. “If you like. But even if it is found there will be a difficulty in reading its riddle.” “Its riddle? Whatever do you mean?” “What I say,” retorted Fuller impatiently. “The secret of the fortune is connected with some secret writing which has to do with the peacock.” “But how can there be secret writing on a metal ornament?” “I can’t say. I don’t know. There’s an enigma of some sort, a cryptogram.” “This is very interesting but patchy,” said Dick, readjusting his big body in the chairs. “Suppose you tell me all from the beginning. Then I might get a glimmer of what you exactly mean.” “Very good, then don’t interrupt.” And Alan related the strange story of George Inderwick and his faithful servant, who had preserved the secret so faithfully indeed that not even the master had been able to find the jewels. Latimer listened with great attention, and nodded when the story was concluded with an air of satisfaction. “It’s quite a romance,” he declared slowly, when Fuller waited for comment, “and there is no doubt that the assassin stole the peacock by murdering Grison in order to get the Begum’s gems. No man would have been such a fool as to risk his neck otherwise for a paltry ornament.”