By the end of the second hour his uneasiness had increased
to consternation. The house was as silent as
a tomb, the sitting-room was still in a state of chaos,
and a healthy appetite would persist in putting ominous
and inconvenient questions as to dinner. Whistling
a cheerful air he went downstairs again and put his
head in at the kitchen. Selina sat in the same
attitude, and when he coughed made no response.
“What about dinner?” he said, at last,
in a voice which strove to be unconcerned.
“Go away,” said Selina, thickly.
“I don’t want no dinner.”
The captain started. “But I do,”
he said, feelingly.
“You’d better get it yourself, then,”
replied Miss Vickers, without turning her head.
“I might steal a potato or something.”
“Don’t talk nonsense,” said the
other, nervously.
“I’m not a thief,” continued Miss
Vickers. “I work as hard as anybody in
Binchester, and nobody can ever say that I took the
value of a farthing from them. If I’m
poor I’m honest.”
“Everybody knows that,” said the captain,
with fervour.
“You said you didn’t want the paper,”
said Selina, turning at last and regarding him fiercely.
“I heard you with my own ears, else I wouldn’t
have taken it. And if they had come back you’d
have had your share. You didn’t want the
treasure yourself and you didn’t want other people
to have it. And it wasn’t yours, because
I heard you say so.”
“Very well, say no more about it,” said
the captain. “If anybody asks you can
say that I knew you had it. Now go and put that
back in the bureau.”
He tossed the key on to the table, and Miss Vickers,
after a moment’s hesitation, turned with a gratified
smile and took it up. The next hour he spent
in his bedroom, the rapid evolutions of Miss Vickers
as she passed from the saucepans to the sitting room
and from the sitting-room back to the saucepans requiring
plenty of sea room.
A week later she was one of the happiest people in
Binchester. Edward Tredgold had received a cable
from Auckland: “All safe; coming home,”
and she shared with Mrs. Chalk and Mrs. Stobell in
the hearty congratulations of a large circle of friends.
Her satisfaction was only marred by the feverish
condition of Mr. Tasker immediately on receipt of the
news.
Fortunately for their peace of mind, Mr. Chalk and
his friends, safe on board the s.s. Silver Star,
bound for home, had no idea that the story of the
treasure had become public property. Since their
message it had become the principal topic of conversation
in the town, and, Miss Vickers being no longer under
the necessity of keeping her share in the affair secret,
Mr. William Russell was relieved of a reputation for
untruthfulness under which he had long laboured.
