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Page 51
"Then my end of the conversation is becoming flat."
"Confess that you are eager to return to the great highways once more."
"I shall confess nothing of the sort. I should like to stay here for a
hundred years."
"You would miss us all very much then," merrily. "And Napoleon's
treasure would have gone in and out of innumerable pockets!"
"Do you really and truly believe that we shall bring home a single
franc of it?" facing her with incredulous eyes.
"Really and truly. And why not? Treasures have been found before.
Fie on you for a Doubting Thomas!"
"We sometimes go many miles to find, in the end, that the treasure was
all the time under our very eyes."
"Hyperbole!" But she looked down at the lichen again and began pealing
it off the stone. She thought of a duke she knew. At this instant he
would have been telling her that she was the most beautiful woman since
Helen. What a relief this man at her side was! She was perfectly
aware that he admired her, but he veiled his tributes with half-smiles
and flashes of humor. "What a gay little man that Mr. Ferraud is!"
"Lively as a cricket. Your father, I understand, is to take him as far
as Marseilles. After to-night everything will be quite formal, I
suppose. Honestly, I feel ill at ease in accepting your splendid
hospitality. I'm an interloper. I haven't even the claim of an
ordinary introduction. It has been very, very kind of you."
"You know Mrs. Coldfield. I will, if you wish it, ask her to present
you to me."
"I am really serious."
"So am I."
"They will be here to-morrow?"
"Yes. And in four days we sail. Oh, it is all so beautiful! A real
treasure hunt."
"It does not seem possible that I have been here a week. It has been a
long time since I enjoyed myself so thoroughly. Have you ever wondered
what has become of the other man?"
"The other man?"
"Yes; the other one in or outside the chimney. I've been thinking
about him this long while. Hasn't it occurred to you that he may have
other devices?"
"If he has he will find that he has waited too long. But I would like
to know how he found out. You see," triumphantly, "he believed that
there is one." She shook the rein, for the sleek mare was nozzling her
shoulder and pawing slightly, "Let us be off."
She put her small booted foot on his palm and vaulted into the saddle,
and he swung on to his mount. He stuffed his cap into a pocket, for he
was no fair-weather horseman, but loved the tingle of the wind rushing
through his hair; and the two cantered down the clear sandy road.
"_En avant_!" she cried joyously, with a light stroke of her whip.
For half a mile they ran and drew in at the fork in the road.
Exhilaration was in the eyes of both of them.
"There's nothing equal to it. You feel alive. And off there," with a
wave of the whip toward the sea, "off there lies our fortunes. O happy
day! to take part in a really truly adventure, without the assistance
of a romancer!"
"I think you are one of the most charming women I have ever met," he
replied.
"Some women would object to the modification, but I rather like it."
"I withdraw the modification." The smile on his lips was not reflected
in his eyes.
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