"Merely I should like to know if Anne's will really did think Anne would have remembered me. We were such friends. And with a little money I could have made myself more comfortable. The garden for instance: I'm sure I live in a kind of jungle. Gertrude, I wish you could let Joseph come and put it right. Then we could talk about his good fortune." "Joseph takes odd jobs at times," said Miss Monk, trying to speak calmly, for really her aunt was very trying with her unnecessary frankness, "if you offer him a good wage, he will come with pleasure." "Oh, I can't afford to pay money," said Miss Destiny hurriedly, "it is not to be expected, especially since Gabriel left me nothing. Ah! Gertrude, you are the lucky one. Fifty thousand pounds," Miss Destiny smacked her lips, "oh, if it only could be found.' "It is not likely to be found." "Mr. Striver intends to find it," I said incautiously, and could have bitten out my tongue the moment afterwards for so crude a remark. Both the women turned to face me: Miss Destiny with vulture-like eagerness, and Miss Monk with an expression of astonishment. "What has Joseph to do with my money?" asked the latter, pointedly. "Perhaps he doesn't know that it is your money, Miss Monk." "What do you mean, exactly?" "Simply that Striver is searching for the sum of fifty-thousand pounds. That being the amount of some money belonging to you which is missing, as Miss Destiny said just now, I apprehend that it is the same." "It must be: it must be," cried the little old lady clapping her skinny hands, "for Anne never could have saved so much out of her wages. Gertrude I always declared that Anne knew where the money of Gabriel was hidden. Now, it seems, she told Joseph about it." "She did not inform him of its whereabouts," I struck in, eager to enlist Miss Monk's attention, "but he hopes to trace it by means of the glass eye." "The glass eye," echoed Miss Monk, very much amazed. "I know that Anne had a glass eye, and that it is missing. But----" "I see: I understand," said Miss Destiny feverishly, "don't interrupt me, Gertrude, for I see it all. Anne always attached a great value to that glass eye, so in some way--from what Mr. Vance says--it is connected with the hiding-place of Gabriel's money. Perhaps Gabriel got Anne to assist him in hiding it. Dear me, and the eye is missing. If it could only be found, Gertrude, you would be quite an heiress." "I don't believe that the eye or the money will ever be found," said Miss Monk impatiently, and walked towards the door. "Are you returning to the village, Mr. Vance?" The hint was unmistakable, and I was only too glad to take advantage of it, since it meant a _tête-à-fête_ with my goddess. "Mrs. Gilfin will wonder what has become of me," I said, glancing at my watch. "Oh, don't go, don't go," implored Miss Destiny, grasping my arm. "I do so want to learn all about this glass eye and the money."