He rang the bell for the butler.
"Gelstrap," he said solemnly, "I want to go down into the cellar."
Then Gelstrap preceded him with a candle, and he went into the inner
vault where he kept his choicest wines.
He passed many bins: there was 1803 Port, 1792 Imperial Tokay,
1800 Claret, 1812 Sherry, these and many others were passed, but it
was not for them that the head of the Pontifex family had gone down
into his inner cellar. A bin, which had appeared empty until the
full light of the candle had been brought to bear upon it, was now
found it, to contain a single pint bottle. This was the object of
Mr. Pontifex's search.
Gelstrap had often pondered over this bottle. It had been placed
there by Mr. Pontifex himself about a dozen years previously, on his
return from a visit to his friend the celebrated traveller, Dr. Jones-
but there was no tablet above the bin which might give a clue to the
nature of its contents. On more than one occasion when his master
had gone out and left his keys accidentally behind him, as he
sometimes did, Gelstrap had submitted the bottle to all the tests he
could venture upon, but it was so carefully sealed that wisdom
remained quite shut out from that entrance at which he would have
welcomed her most gladly- and indeed from all other entrances, for
he could make out nothing at all.
Pages:
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135