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‘That is notof the situation,’ said the captain ‘The professor froenuine, and as a result the Italian Naval Office has officially declared them treasure trove It ell reported in the Italian press And the good news, commander, is that Lieutenant Monti pulled off a bit of a coup for this department’

‘What for to remain calm

‘Following several days of tough negotiations, the Italian Naval Office agreed on a valuation of the rest of the coins that ell below the amount proposed by M

r Carter’s representative’

‘How much?’ spat out Hawksby

‘Six hundred thousand pounds, of which the Italian government only had to pay out three hundred thousand So Lieutenant Monti’s skilful negotiations saved the government some fifty thousand pounds’

‘One coin?’ whispered Willia the commander’s orders

‘Lieutenant Monti sent only one coin to be examined by the professor?’ asked Hawksby

‘Yes,’ said the captain ‘The remainder were kept under lock and key in Rome Monti considered it would be pointless and unnecessarily risky to send the entire casket to Florence’ Lamont scribbled a feords on a scrap of paper and passed it to Hawksby

‘You said Lieutenant Monti is no longer with you’

‘That is correct, commander He recently took early retirement’

‘But when I last spoke to him, he mentioned the possibility of promotion’

‘Yes, it was all very sudden,’ said Captain Loretti ‘It see fron and return home to look after her Quite a sacrifice, because, you’re correct, he was just about to be promoted to captain and made head of the department’

Where is he? wrote William

‘Is there any way I can get in touch with him?’ asked Hawksby