I went to the table, and saw upon it, ranged symmetrically side by side, four objects which looked like thick rulers wrapped up in silver paper.

I opened the paper at the end of one of the rulers, and found that it was composed of half-crowns.

I had closed the paper again, and was just raising my head from the table over which it had been bent, when my right cheek came in contact with something hard and cold.

I started back--looked up--and confronted Doctor Dulcifer, holding a pistol at my right temple..