It contained little in the way of ornament or comfort--a solid
writing-desk with a hard chair, an easy-chair by the fireplace, a sofa
against the wall, a map of London and a picture or two, a shelf of old
books, a collection of walking-sticks, and umbrellas: these made up all
there was to see.
And upon examination the desk yielded next to nothing. One drawer
contained a cash-box, a checkbook, a pass-book. Some sixty or seventy
pounds in notes, gold and silver lay in the cash-box; the stubs of
the checks revealed nothing but the payment of tradesmen's bills; the
pass-book showed that an enormous balance lay at the bank. In another
drawer rested a collection of tradesmen's books--Mr. Ashton, said
Mrs. Killenhall, used to pay his tradesmen every week; these books
had been handed to him on the very evening of his death for
settlement next morning.
"Evidently a most methodical man!" remarked Mr. Pawle. "Which makes it
all the more remarkable that so few papers are discoverable. You'd have
thought that in his longish life he'd have accumulated a good many
documents that he wanted to keep."
But documents there were next to none.
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