"The apparatus works beautifully," he informed his aunt; "the deeper one
got the clearer everything grew. We found something in the way of a
sunken wreck to operate on, too!"
"A wreck in Innisgluther Bay!" exclaimed Lulu.
"A submerged motor-boat, the _Sub-Rosa_," said Vasco.
"No! really?" said Lulu; "poor Billy Yuttley's boat. I remember it went
down somewhere off that coast some three years ago. His body was washed
ashore at the Point. People said at the time that the boat was capsized
intentionally--a case of suicide, you know. People always say that sort
of thing when anything tragic happens."
"In this case they were right," said Vasco.
"What do you mean?" asked the Duchess hurriedly. "What makes you think
so?"
"I know," said Vasco simply.
"Know? How can you know? How can anyone know? The thing happened three
years ago."
"In a locker of the _Sub-Rosa_ I found a water-tight strong-box. It
contained papers." Vasco paused with dramatic effect and searched for a
moment in the inner breast-pocket of his coat. He drew out a folded slip
of paper. The Duchess snatched at it in almost indecent haste and moved
appreciably nearer the fireplace.
"Was this in the _Sub-Rosa's_ strong-box?" she asked.
"Oh no," said Vasco carelessly, "that is a list of the well-known people
who would be involved in a very disagreeable scandal if the _Sub-Rosa's_
papers were made public. I've put you at the head of it, otherwise it
follows alphabetical order.
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