inquiry must be made." Why should Durdles tap the Sapsea monument?
As Durdles had the key, he would simply walk into the vault, and
find the quicklime. Now, Jasper also, we presume, had a key, made
from a wax impression of the original. If he had any sense, he
would have removed the quicklime as easily as he inserted it, for
Mr. Sapsea was mortal: he might die any day, and be buried, and
then the quicklime, lying where it ought not, would give rise to
awkward inquiries.

Inquiry being made, in consequence of Durdles's tappings, the ring
would be found, as Mr. Cuming Walters says. But even then, unless
Deputy actually saw Jasper carry a man into the vault, nobody could
prove Jasper's connection with the presence of the ring in the
vault. Moreover, Deputy hated Jasper, and if he saw Jasper
carrying the body of a man, on the night when a man disappeared, he
was clever enough to lead Durdles to examine the vault, AT ONCE.
Deputy had a great dislike of the Law and its officers, but here
was a chance for him to distinguish himself, and conciliate them.

However these things may be, Mr. Cuming Walters supposes that
Jasper, finding himself watched, re-enters the vault, perhaps, "to
see that every trace of the crime had been removed." In the vault
he finds--Datchery, that is, Helena Landless! Jasper certainly
visited the vault and found somebody.


EVIDENCE OF COLLINS'S DRAWINGS


We now come to the evidence which Forster strangely overlooked,