In Her Own Right Part 34

She took up Parmenter's letter again, and glanced over it. Then she handed it back, and shook her head.

"It's too much for my poor brain," she said. "I surrender."

"Precisely where we landed. We gave it rather more than a fair trial, and, then, we gave it up. I'm done. When I go home, to-night, I shall return the letter to the escritoire where I found it, and forget it.

There is no profit in speculating further."

"You can return it to its hiding place," she reflected, "but you can't cease wondering. Why didn't Marmaduke Duval get the treasure while the landmarks were there? Why did he leave it for his heirs?"

"Probably on account of old Parmenter's restriction that it be left until the 'extremity of need.'"

She nodded, in acquiescence.

"Probably," she said, "the Duvals would regard it as a matter of honor to observe the exact terms of the bequest. Alas! Alas! that they did so!"

"It's only because they did so, that I got a chance to search!" Croyden laughed.

"You mean that, otherwise, there would be no buried treasure!" she exclaimed. "Of course!--how stupid! And with all that money, the Duvals might have gone away from Hampton--might have experienced other conditions. Colonel Duval might never have met your father--you might have never come to Clarendon.--My goodness! Where does it end?"

"In the realm of pure conjecture," he answered. "It is idle to theorize on the might-have-beens, or what might-have-happened if the what-did-happen hadn't happened. Dismiss it, at least, for this evening. You asked what I was doing for three weeks at Annapolis, and I have consumed a great while in answering--let us talk of something else. What have you been doing in those three weeks?"

"Nothing! A little Bridge, a few riding parties, some sails on the Bay, with an occasional homily by Miss Erskine, when she had me cornered, and I couldn't get away. Then is when I learned what a deep impression you had made!" she laughed.

"We both were learning, it seems," he replied.

She looked at him, inquiringly.

"I don't quite understand," she said.

"You made an impression, also--of course, that's to be expected, but this impression is much more than the ordinary kind!"

_"Merci, Monsieur_," she scoffed.

"No, it isn't _merci_, it's a fact. And he is a mighty good fellow on whom to make an impression."

"You mean, Mr.--Macloud?"

"Just so! I mean Macloud."

"You're very safe in saying it!"

"Wherefore?"

"He is absent. It's not susceptible of proof."

"You think so?"

"Yes, I think so!"

"I don't!"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"For he's coming back----"

"To Hampton?"

"To Hampton."

"When?" she said, sceptically.

"Very soon!"

"Delightfully indefinite!" she laughed.

"In fact, within a week."

She laughed, again!

"To be accurate, I expect him not later than the day-after-to-morrow."

"I shall believe you, when I see him!" incredulously.

"He is, I think, coming solely on your account."

"But you're not quite sure?--oh! modest man!"

"Naturally, he hasn't confided in me."

"So you're confiding in me--how clever!"

"I could tell some things----"

"Which are fables."

"----but I won't--they might turn your head----"

"Which way--to the right or left?"

"----and make you too confident and too cruel. He saw you but twice----"

"Once!" she corrected.

"Once, on the street; again, when we called in the evening--but he gave you a name, the instant he saw you----"

"How kind of him!"

"He called you: 'The Symphony in Blue.'"