There lay Mr. Sleuth’s money—­the sovereigns, as the landlady well knew, would each and all gradually pass into her’s and Bunting’s possession, honestly earned by them no doubt but unattainable—­in act unearnable—­excepting in connection with the present owner of those dully shining gold sovereigns.

At last she went downstairs to await Mr. Sleuth’s return.

When she heard the key turn in the door, she came out into the passage.

“I’m sorry to say I’ve had an accident, sir,” she said a little breathlessly.  “Taking advantage of your being out I went up to dust the drawing-room, and while I was trying to get behind the chiffonnier it tilted.  I’m afraid, sir, that a bottle of ink that was inside may have got broken, for just a few drops oozed out, sir.  But I hope there’s no harm done.  I wiped it up as well as I could, seeing that the doors of the chiffonnier are locked.”

Mr. Sleuth stared at her with a wild, almost a terrified glance.  But Mrs. Bunting stood her ground.  She felt far less afraid now than she had felt before he came in.  Then she had been so frightened that she had nearly gone out of the house, on to the pavement, for company.

“Of course I had no idea, sir, that you kept any ink in there.”

She spoke as if she were on the defensive, and the lodger’s brow cleared.

“I was aware you used ink, sir,” Mrs. Bunting went on, “for I have seen you marking that book of yours—­I mean the book you read together with the Bible.  Would you like me to go out and get you another bottle, sir?”

“No,” said Mr. Sleuth.  “No, I thank you.  I will at once proceed upstairs and see what damage has been done.  When I require you I shall ring.”

He shuffled past her, and five minutes later the drawing-room bell did ring.

At once, from the door, Mrs. Bunting saw that the chiffonnier was wide open, and that the shelves were empty save for the bottle of red ink which had turned over and now lay in a red pool of its own making on the lower shelf.

“I’m afraid it will have stained the wood, Mrs. Bunting.  Perhaps I was ill-advised to keep my ink in there.”

“Oh, no, sir!  That doesn’t matter at all.  Only a drop or two fell out on to the carpet, and they don’t show, as you see, sir, for it’s a dark corner.  Shall I take the bottle away?  I may as well.”

Mr. Sleuth hesitated.  “No,” he said, after a long pause, “I think not, Mrs. Bunting.  For the very little I require it the ink remaining in the bottle will do quite well, especially if I add a little water, or better still, a little tea, to what already remains in the bottle.  I only require it to mark up passages which happen to be of peculiar interest in my Concordance—­a work, Mrs. Bunting, which I should have taken great pleasure in compiling myself had not this—­ah—­this gentleman called Cruden, been before.”

******

Not only Bunting, but Daisy also, thought Ellen far pleasanter in her manner than usual that evening.  She listened to all they had to say about their interesting visit to the Black Museum, and did not snub either of them—­no, not even when Bunting told of the dreadful, haunting, silly-looking death-masks taken from the hanged.