“It is treasure trove,” she said startlingly. “I know the law of the
country, because I’ve talked this thing over with Harry times without
number. Treasure found hidden after hundreds of years has to be
divided between the State and the finder.”
He shook his head with a smile.
“Our Mary is a lawyer!” he bantered. “You’re wrong, my dear. That is
only the case if the owner of the money cannot be found. In the
present instance there is no doubt whatever that the treasure would
belong to Chelford.”
He saw her face fall and went on:
“I don’t know that that is going to seriously inconvenience us,” he
said, looking her straight in the eyes. “You cannot lose what you
never had, eh?”
She drew a deep sigh of relief.
“It is Harry’s, I suppose, but after the way he has treated me, and
all that I’ve done for him----”
“Yes, yes,” he said soothingly. “We needn’t worry about Harry. The
only question is, have you found the treasure?”
She nodded.
“You’ve actually seen it?”
“No,” she hesitated, “I haven’t seen it. I hadn’t time. But I saw the
boxes through the grating. The door was locked, and I was so excited
that I had to come out and walk around. And then Dick Alford saw me.”
Arthur was puzzled. He knew this girl well enough; they had been good
friends in the days when she was Chelford’s secretary, and she had
been a most useful agent of his.
“Now, let’s get down to brass tacks,” he said brusquely. “Where did
you see this treasure and when?”
“I’ll tell you when. I saw it two days ago,” she said, to his
surprise, for he had thought she was talking about some experience she
had had when she was an inmate of Fossaway Manor.
“Two days ago?” he gasped.
“Two days ago,” she affirmed. “And as to where, well, there’s another
matter to be settled before we get as far as that, Arthur. Will you
sign that agreement?”
He looked at the paper again. His training in the law, his natural
instincts against putting his name under any document which bound him,
urged him to temporize.
“It is yes or no,” she said, as though she read his mind. “I’m not
going to fool around with you unless you mean business. I’ll take it
to Harry, and maybe, if I put him in possession of this gold, he’ll do
the right thing by me.”
And, seeing that he made no move, she took up the paper, folded it
determinedly, and put it in her little satchel.
“What’s the hurry?” he said, in alarm. “Mary, you’re mad to expect me
to take a big decision like this without giving the matter a moment’s
thought. Don’t you realize what you’re asking me to do? You’re
proposing an act of sheer robbery and you’re asking me to become an
accomplice. After all----” He shrugged his shoulders.
“If your conscience is hurting you,” she said, “we’ll leave it. I’m
not the sort of girl who’d throw herself at any man’s head. I’ll take
it along to Harry and see if his conscience is busy.”
She turned to go, but before she reached the door he had intercepted
her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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