A PARTIAL FAILURE


"Do you notice anything peculiar about these coins?" Venner said, when
once more they were back in the comparative seclusion of the
smoking-room. "Have a good look at them."

Gurdon complied; he turned the coins over in his hand and weighed them on
his fingers. So far as he could see they were good, honest, British
coins, each well worth the twenty shillings which they were supposed to
represent.

"I don't see anything peculiar about them at all," he said. "So far as I
can judge, they appear to be genuine enough. At first I began to think
that our friend Fenwick had turned coiner. Look at this."

As he spoke Gurdon dashed the coin down upon a marble table. It rang true
and clear.

"I'd give a pound for it," he said. "The weight in itself is a good test.
No coiner yet has ever discovered a metal that will weigh like gold and
ring as true. The only strange thing about the coin is that it is in such
a wonderful state of preservation. It might have come out of the Mint
yesterday. I am afraid we shall have to abandon the idea of laying
Fenwick by the heels on the charge of making counterfeit money. I'll
swear this is genuine."

"I am of the same opinion, too," Venner said. "I have handled too much
gold in my time to be easily deceived. Still, there is something wrong
here, and I'll tell you why. Look at those two coins again, and tell me