Part 51 (1/2)
WHY AND WHEREFORE
The customary inquest followed, and after careful examination of the various witnesses, and a visit to the place, the jury, by the coroner's direction, returned a verdict of ”wilful e affair passed into the hands of the police The hounds of the laere laid upon the scent, and they were active enough in their efforts to run the Clareborough family down, but without success: for they had suddenly disappeared from The Towers, as completely as they had from their town mansion, but what direction they had taken was not discovered
They were ”wanted” for the clearing up of the death of their two servants, whose bodies were identified by the doht up froht for was the old housekeeper, who, it was presus at the great mansion But she could not be found, and the suspicion at once arose that she had been murdered by theleave to go up to town on business
Search was thereforehouse with the curious underground works, but without result, and the disappearance of the old lady's body added to the mystery
The fae--that of coining, for upon further investigation of the supposed wealth banked in the strong-room, it was found that the coins were base
But it required a far more than superficial examination to prove this, official after official fro to the ordinary tests Their weight was absolutely correct, the work, but upon every sovereign being broken in half, though there was nothing to see, the coin appearing to be of gold with the proper a metal added, the application of the acid test showed that so
The exaold, and discovered in the underground place beneath the old professor's house, gave the explanation, the two chests delivered by the railway co the matter, for after the police had removed a layer or two of old books, they caots of the baseof an ingeniously coical analysis, the Mint authorities kept secret
Exa, fro n production
There was a small furnace, too, with crucibles, and other paraphernalia, thethe small ribbons of metal from which the round counter-like flats had been punched, and so pressed
These last ribbons of ots, after the old fashi+on of producing silver plate--before the introduction of the cheap electro-plating system--by which the pure oods wereat top and bottom a thin slip of pure silver, which was made to adhere to the copper by heat Then the silvered copper bar was passed through rolling mills till it was flattened to the necessary thickness, and came out with its due proportion of silver on both sides, ready for working up into shape, with the addition of pure silver finishi+ngs to the parts likely to be ns were, then, thus ot of alloy was prepared with the addition of one-half of pure gold, that is to say, one fourth part at top and bottoots were rolled to the right thickness, the flats punched out, and afterwards passed through the die press, to come out so perfect that for years these coins ran current by thousands, even the banking co after that Chester discovered that his two-hundred-guinea fee was all perfectly base
The learned said the production of such coin was an ihs proved to them that it was not, and the Mint authorities were puzzled by the perfection attained But at last it was remeist and cheh position at the Mint, was discovered in an offence against the rules of the establishradation, he having escaped a criminal prosecution by the skin or his teeth
This official had ested by an ingenious personage as being possible that to this ht nail was hit upon the head, for at the tih fah their wild expenditure, utterly penniless and hopelessly in debt, this man, after many experiments, so advanced his project that he laid it before Jah, who jumped at the idea; his brother Dennis and cousin Robert, both helplessly aground and forced to enlist in cavalry regi was begun, but they were terribly crippled by the cost of each piece Ja that it was absurd to be ns the s; but his uncle's theory was that only by the great perfection of the coins could success and immunity from discovery be assured
The uncle had the support of the two younger otten from practice enabled them to produce the coins ium; four more impecunious members of the family were sworn in to join in the secret of what they called their private bank; and at the end of three years the n workh the book-collector's house, and all done without a suspicion being raised
The generally-accepted idea in fashi+onable sporting circles was that the wealth of the Clareboroughs ca transactions, andto imitate them, notably their two servants
The various difficulties in the Clareboroughs' way dissolved upon being attacked; wealth rolled in as fast as they liked to uidance of their uncle, the professor, who kept the position of captain over theave up, as did the others, feeling that everything depended upon their being united The old enuine love for collecting old works act as a blind for the receiving of heavy cases of metal, served them well, and the servants never once had a suspicion that there was a cos, or that the stern old housekeeper was the professor's wife
Her part ell played, too She never left the town mansion when all the servants went down to The Towers And it was at these ti men cas, but really to work hard in the well-fitted vaults to replenish the strong-room, whose contents they wasted fast
Self-interest, as well as clannishness, held the faether Use had one on for years in their life of luxury unchecked, but for the one weak link in their chain--the strongest andthem His plainly-displayed passion for his cousin had been the cause or quarrel after quarrel with Robert Clareborough, one of which culminated in blows, the use of the revolver, and Marion rushi+ng off, believing her brother dying, for the aid of the surgeon hose name a recent case had made her fa able, but they had keen, shrewd men to deal with, and the culprits completely disappeared Suspicions were entertained that they reat deal of base coin in Germany, but it was never traced home to theh soon died out and the otten
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
CHESTER AWAKENS FROM HIS DREAM
It was not until after many days of wild deliriuht of reason to s clear oncewhy he was unable to raise a hand or turn his head without difficulty
He lay for so to think out what had happened in an untroubled way, for a restful sensation pervaded his being, and it did not seem to mattersound, which he knew at last to be caused by a needle co in contact with a thimble