Mr.Tallboys had searched in vain.

Every cabinet and drawer in the house had been ransacked.

No signs whatever had been found of the will.
"Mr.Tallboys is perfectly convinced that it must be hidden in some altogether exceptional place.

The will was not a bulky document, and might have been stowed away in a comparatively small hiding-place, such as a secret drawer in a cabinet; but the leases that are also missing are bulky, and would take up so large a space that he is convinced that had a secret hiding-place sufficiently large to hold them existed in any of the articles of furniture he has searched he should have discovered it.
"Of course, my dear Mrs.Conway, we feel this matter personally, as our Mabel was as you know made joint-heiress with your Ralph of Herbert's property.

We cannot but feel, however, that the loss is greater in your case than in ours.