When Shade returned home for breakfast, he opened the letter Miss Goode had sent this month at the dining table and read it while eating.
Last month, Miss Goode had mentioned in her letter that she had fallen ill again. When Shade wrote back, he had also expressed concern for her health. In this incoming letter, Miss Goode admitted that she had probably become ill from overwork. After all, ever since returning last summer to the small town where her declining family lived, she had been constantly busy. Fortunately, she had recovered somewhat by now.
In this month's letter, besides once again asking after Mia and reminding Shade that spring was cats' mating season, Gothe also mentioned the "little things" mailed along with the letter. The original wording was as follows:
I found some interesting objects in the ancestral home. They may be quite valuable, or they may be worth nothing at all. What I lack now is not Gold Pounds, but time, so I am giving them to you as keepsakes. Thank you again for taking care of Mia. Please do not stand on ceremony with me.
Thus, out of curiosity, Shade opened the heavy crate after breakfast. He had originally assumed it contained things Miss Goode had found in the ancestral home, such as rusty gold cups or antique picture frames on the verge of falling apart. To his surprise, when he pried the crate open with a crowbar, he discovered that he had been completely wrong.
"No wonder it was so heavy."
The wooden crate was lined with straw, and wrapped in that straw was a golden rectangular metal box. Its four sides bore the images of a Smiling Sun Emblem, Sword and Shield, Golden Cat, and a Woman's Face Surrounded by Curved Patterns. The bottom of