— XLVI —SUMMING UP
Mr. Chaffinch and his friends met with their deserts, or, at least, with a considerable part of them. For it may be taken for granted that gentlemen of their kidney never do receive quite all that they deserve from the hands of the law. That little book, filled with the secret writing, which Mr. Edney’s heir found in safe No. 226, contained matter which proved to be their complete undoing. When Mr. Smithers, having puzzled out the key, went with it and the rest of his find to the authorities, he was able to lay before them a history of certain criminal transactions in which the association had been engaged which was in its way unique. The late George Edney, besides being a player of many parts, must have been a man of subtle humour. He had recorded, with circumstantial
