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Cornelius srateful, and indeed I am, as always, conscious of your valued assistance over the years You are truly a good friend, and I swear I would leave my entire estate to you if you weren’t a bachelor, and if I didn’t knoouldn’t change your way of life one iota’

‘No, thank you,’ said Frank with a chuckle ‘If you did that, I would only have to carry out exactly the same test with a different set of characters’ He paused ‘So, what is your first move?’

Cornelius rose from his chair ‘To those concerned that a bankruptcy notice has been served onloans to be repaid in full, and as quickly as possible’

Frank had already begunnotes on a little pad he always carried with him Twenty minutes later, when he had written down Cornelius’s final instruction, he placed the pad back in an inside pocket, drained his glass and stubbed out his cigar

When Cornelius rose to accompany him to the front door, Frank asked, ‘But what is to be the third of your tests, the one you’re convinced will prove so conclusive?’

The old solicitor listened carefully as Cornelius outlined an idea of such ingenuity that he departed feeling all the victims would be left with little choice but to reveal their true colours

~

The first person to call Cornelius on Saturday h It must have been only moments after he had opened Frank’s letter Cornelius had the distinct feeling that so in on the conversation

‘I’ve just received a letter froh, ‘and I simply can’t believe it Please tell me there’s been some dreadful mistake’

‘I’m afraid there has been no mistake,’ Cornelius replied ‘I only wish I could tell you otherwise’

‘But how could you, who are nor to happen?’

‘Put it down to old age,’ Cornelius replied ‘A feeeks after Millie died I was talked into investing a large su equipment to the Russians All of us have read about the endless supply of oil there, if only one could get at it, so I was confident my investment would show a handsome return Last Friday I was informed by the company secretary that they had filed a 217 order, as they were no longer solvent’

‘But surely you didn’t invest everything you had in the one co even more incredulous

‘Not originally, of course,’ said Cornelius, ‘but I fear I got sucked in whenever they needed a further injection of cash Towards the end I had to go on investing more, as it see back inal investment’

‘But doesn’t the company have any assets you can lay your hands on? What about all theequipment?’