“Let’s face the facts,” said my brother-in-law.  “Taking everything into consideration, doesn’t it look like a vision, or second sight?”

We agreed vociferously.  Only Adele looked ill at ease.

Berry continued.

“Very well, then.  Less than a month ago all our silver was taken off us by comic burglars.  Doesn’t it look as if we were being offered the chance of replacing it by something better?”

Again we agreed.

“Lastly, the insurance company has paid up to the tune of four thousand pounds, which amount is now standing to the credit of my deposit account at Coutts’.  I tell you, if we don’t have a dart, we shall be mad.”

“I agree,” said I.

“So do I,” cried Jill.  “I’m all for it.”

Only Daphne and Jonah hesitated.

I laid my hand upon the former’s shoulder.

“Supposing,” I said, “we take no action, but Vandy does.  Supposing he strikes oil and lands the stuff under our noses....  Wouldn’t you cheerfully blow the four thousand just to avoid that?”

My sister’s eyes flashed, and Jonah’s chin went up.

“Anything,” said Daphne emphatically, “anything would be better than that.”

So was the decision made.

We adjourned to the drawing-room, and for the rest of the evening discussed the matter furiously.

The suggestion that Vandy would not wait to buy, but had already got to work at The Lawn, was summarily dismissed.  Our cousin was too cautious for that.  He knew that the moment we had the book, we should be as wise as he, and that, since we were at loggerheads, we should certainly not sit quietly by and permit him to enrich himself to our teeth, when a word to the owners of The Lawn would compel him to disgorge any treasure he found.  No, Vandy was no fool.  He would walk circumspectly, and buy first and dig afterwards.

It was Jonah who raised the question of “treasure trove.”  In some uneasiness we sought for a book of law.  Investigation, however, satisfied us that, if the plate were ever unearthed, the Crown would not interfere.  Evidence that an ancestor had buried it was available, and reference to the will of Nicholas would establish its identity.  Whether it belonged to us or to Vandy was another matter, but Reason suggested that Law and Equity alike would favour the party in whose land it was found.

We ordered breakfast early and the car at a quarter to nine, but, for all that, it was past midnight before we went to bed.

The next morning, for once in a way, we were up to time.  Two minutes after the quarter we were all six in the car, and it was not yet nine o’clock when Jonah pulled up in the shade of a mighty oak less than a hundred paces from the tall iron gates which stood gaunt, rusty and forbidding, to mar the beauty of the quiet by-road.

So far as we could see there was no one about, but we were anxious not to attract attention, so Berry and I alighted and strolled casually forward.