tor, the housekeeper, the nurse, all gathered about his death-bed, were considerably disturbed and puzzled by the old man's repetition of certain words. They were the only words he murmured after being struck down, and he said them over and over again before he died. I will tell you what they were. These—The copper box—a Palkeney—a Palkeney—the copper box!"
He paused, with due appreciation of the dramatic effect, and looked at us. Madrasia gave a little shudder.
"Creepy!" she murmured.
"Very!" agreed Murthwaite. "Well, nobody knew what the old man meant, and it was useless to try to get him to give any explanation. But when he was dead, the old housekeeper, after much cudgelling of her brains, remembered that in a certain cabinet in a certain corner of the library there was a small box of beaten copper which she had seen Matthew Palkeney polish with his own hands in past years. She and Sperrigoe went to look for it; it was gone! Sperrigoe had the house searched from top to bottom for it; it was not in the house! That copper box had been
