diff --git a/include/qpdf/ObjectHandle.hh b/include/qpdf/ObjectHandle.hh
index 7eb0a64..83a5f4b 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/ObjectHandle.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/ObjectHandle.hh
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ namespace qpdf
         QPDFObjectHandle operator[](size_t n) const;
         QPDFObjectHandle operator[](int n) const;
 
+        bool contains(std::string const& key) const;
         QPDFObjectHandle const& operator[](std::string const& key) const;
 
         std::shared_ptr<QPDFObject> copy(bool shallow = false) const;
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc
index 659f676..4a7e4e7 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.cc
@@ -30,10 +30,9 @@ BaseHandle::operator[](std::string const& key) const
 }
 
 bool
-BaseDictionary::hasKey(std::string const& key) const
+BaseHandle::contains(std::string const& key) const
 {
-    auto d = dict();
-    return d->items.contains(key) && !d->items[key].null();
+    return !(*this)[key].null();
 }
 
 QPDFObjectHandle
@@ -122,9 +121,8 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::checkOwnership(QPDFObjectHandle const& item) const
 bool
 QPDFObjectHandle::hasKey(std::string const& key) const
 {
-    auto dict = as_dictionary(strict);
-    if (dict) {
-        return dict.hasKey(key);
+    if (Dictionary dict = *this) {
+        return dict.contains(key);
     } else {
         typeWarning("dictionary", "returning false for a key containment request");
         QTC::TC("qpdf", "QPDFObjectHandle dictionary false for hasKey");
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_private.hh b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_private.hh
index 0e6789e..4d2f972 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_private.hh
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_private.hh
@@ -120,7 +120,6 @@ namespace qpdf
     {
       public:
         // The following methods are not part of the public API.
-        bool hasKey(std::string const& key) const;
         QPDFObjectHandle getKey(std::string const& key) const;
         std::set<std::string> getKeys();
         std::map<std::string, QPDFObjectHandle> const& getAsMap() const;