"It concerns me to this extent. By the-common law of England all such money, so discovered, belongs to the Crown: though I understand it is usually shared equally among the Crown, the finder, and the lord of the manor on which it was hidden. Therefore by concealing your knowledge of this money you are illegally defrauding His Majesty, and in fact (if you found it anywhere in Polpier) swindling me, who own the manor rights of Trebursey and Trethake, which together cover every square inch of this town. I bought them from Squire Tresawna these ten years since. And"--he turned upon 'Beida-- "any one who hides, or helps to hide, such money is an accomplice, and may go to prison for it. _Now_ what have you to say?" But Mr Pamphlett had missed to calculate Nicky-Nan's recklessness and the strength of old hatred. "'Say'?" Nicky shook with passion. "I say you're tellin' up a parcel o' lies you can't prove. Do _I_ step into _your_ dam Bank an' ask where you picked up the coin?--No? Well then, get out o' this an' take your Policeman with 'ee. Fend off, I say!" he snapped, as Rat-it-all touched him by the arm. "No offence, Mr Nanjivell," said the Policeman coaxingly. "But merely as between naybours, if I might advise. Mr Pamphlett is a very powerful gentleman: or, as I might put it better, he has influence, unknown to you or me, an' knowledge--" "He's a very powerful skunk." "'Beida! . . . 'Beida!" called a voice from the foot of the stairs. 'Beida, after a start of joy, answered with the Penhaligon war-whoop, as her brother came charging up. "Have you told him?" burst in young 'Bert, and drew back at gaze, a foot within the threshold. "Yes, I've told him," answered 'Beida. "No, you needn' stare so," she went on hurriedly, catching him on the edge of confusion. "It'll be all right if you just answer up an' tell the truth. . . . When we was movin' this afternoon, you an' me took Mr Nanjivell's savin's away, the last thing--didn' we?" "Then what have you done with them?" thundered Mr Pamphlett. "Don't you answer him that," said 'Beida sweetly. "But answer everything else. An' don't you be afraid of him. _I_ ben't." "What d'ee want me to tell?" asked 'Bert, a trifle uneasily. "Everything: 'cept you may leave out 'Biades. He's but a child o' four, an' don't count." "Well," said 'Bert, addressing Mr Pamphlett--and his face, though pale, was dogged--"if 'Beida's willin', I'd as lief get it off my mind. . . . The first thing, sir, was P'liceman Rat-it-all's comin' to me, Tuesday evenin': an' he said to me, 'What be you doin' to occupy yourself as a Boy Scout, now that this here coast-watchin's off?'--" "I didn' say 'off,'" interrupted Rat-it-all. "I didn' use no such low and incorrect expression. My words was 'Now that this here coast-watchin' has come to a ontimely end.'" "I dessay that _was_ the way you put it," 'Bert admitted. "When you starts talkin' Lun'on, all I can follow is the sense--an' lucky if that."