“He seated himself in the chair and I lathered him profusely, with luxurious pleasure in handling the clean soapsuds.  The folly of my late visitors in leaving the shop door unfastened, surprised me, and illustrated afresh the poverty of the criminal intelligence.  They had assumed that it would be all over in a moment and had taken no precautions against the improbable.  And such is the ‘habitual’ with whom the costly machinery of the law is unable to cope!  Verily, there must be a good many fools besides the dishonest ones!

“I shut up the shop when my customer departed, indulged in a good wash and a substantial supper.  For there was much to be done before I could go to bed.  I had providently laid in six casks of a suitable size, of which two were put together and the remainder in the form of loose staves and hoops.  One of these would have to be made up at once, since it was necessary that the specimens should be packed before rigor mortis set in and rendered them unmanageable.  Accordingly, I fell to work after supper with the mallet and the broad chisel-like tool with which the hoops are driven on, and did not pause until the bundle of staves was converted into a cask, complete save for the top hoop and head.

“I proceeded systematically.  Into one cask I poured a quart of water and wetted the interior thoroughly, to make the wood swell and secure tight joints.  Then into it I introduced the Jew, in a sitting posture, and was gratified to find that the specimen occupied the space comfortably.  But here a slight difficulty presented itself.  The center of gravity of a cask filled with homogeneous matter coincides with the geometrical center.  But in a cask containing a deceased Jew, the center of gravity would be markedly ex-centric.  Such a cask would not roll evenly; and irregular rolling might lead to investigation.  However, the remedy was quite simple.  My predecessor had been accustomed to cover the floor of the shop with sawdust, and the peculiar habits of my customers had led me to continue the practice.  An immense bin of the material occupied a corner of the cellar and furnished the means of imparting a factitious homogeneity to the contents of the cask.  I shoveled in a quantity around the specimen, headed up the cask, and finished filling it through the bung-hole.  When I had driven in the bung, I gave the cask a trial roll on the cellar floor and found that it moved without noticeable irregularity.

“It was past midnight before I had finished my labors and had the three casks ready for removal.  After another good wash, I went to bed, and, thanks to the invigorating physical exercise, had an excellent night.

“The following day being Sunday, there was a regrettable delay, since it would have been unwise to challenge attention by trundling the casks through the streets when all the world was resting.  However, I called at my Bloomsbury house and instructed the sergeant-major that some packages might be delivered on the following day.  ‘And,’ I added, ’I shall probably be working in the laboratory tomorrow, so if you hear me moving about you will know that it is all right.’