The sealed instructions, as I think, explain how it was that he died, after all, quietly in his bed.

In the event of his death by violence (that is to say, in the absence of the regular letter from him at the appointed date), my father was then directed to send the Moonstone secretly to Amsterdam.

It was to be deposited in that city with a famous diamond-cutter, and it was to be cut up into from four to six separate stones.

The stones were then to be sold for what they would fetch, and the proceeds were to be applied to the founding of that professorship of experimental chemistry, which the Colonel has since endowed by his Will.

Now, Betteredge, exert those sharp wits of yours, and observe the conclusion to which the Colonel's instructions point!" I instantly exerted my wits.