It had fallen off the back of the shelf and into the little
crevasse where it lay beyond the reach of arm or bent wire or candle
light for over a hundred and thirty years.
"Evidently last night's big shaking widened the crack and let the bag
fall down. The ragged edge of a broken brick tore the leather and the
two coins that Vladimir and Elisabeth found slipped out and fell just
inside the plank covering of the chimney and below it out on to the
floor."
"So did the two that fell out when we were working," added Roger.
"Let's open it and count the money. This may be some other bag,"
suggested Helen, who had brought back no farther information from the
Russian. "If it's Algernon's it ought to have--how many guineas was
it?"
"Five hundred and seventy-three, and a ring and a miniature," continued
Ethel Brown who had heard his story.
"In a box," concluded Ethel Blue. "I can't wait for Roger to undo it!"
They gathered around the table on which Roger had placed the stained
bag, the gold coins gleaming through a gash in its side. Moya cleaned
the outside as well as she could with a damp cloth.
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