Said that was the sort of friend "e"d naturally expect me to "ave. Said "e"d naturally expect that from the friend of a out-of-work loafer who took up with daughters who didn"t belong to "im. There! I couldn"t tell you "ARF "e said. "E went on most outrageous. I stood up to "im about it, just to dror "im out. "Wouldn"t you stick to a "arf-sov", not if you found it in the street?" I says. "Certainly not," "e says; "certainly I wouldn"t." "What! not if you found it as a sort of treasure?"
"Young man," "e says, "there"s "i"er "thority than mine--Render unto Caesar"--what is it? Yes. Well, he fetched up that. A rare "and at "itting you over the "ed with the Bible, was the old man. And so he went on. "E got to such Snacks about me at last I couldn"t stand it. I"d promised Jane not to answer "im back, but it got a bit TOO thick. I--I give it "im..."
Mr. Brisher, by means of enigmatical facework, tried to make me think he had had the best of that argument, but I knew better.
"I went out in a "uff at last. But not before I was pretty sure I "ad to lift that treasure by myself. The only thing that kep" me up was thinking "ow I"d take it out of "im when I "ad the cash."
There was a lengthy pause.
"Now, you"d "ardly believe it, but all them three days I never "ad a chance at the blessed treasure, never got out not even a "arf-crown.
There was always a Somethink--always.
""Stonishing thing it isn"t thought of more," said Mr. Brisher. "Finding treasure"s no great shakes. It"s gettin" it. I don"t suppose I slep" a wink any of those nights, thinking where I was to take it, what I was to do with it, "ow I was to explain it. It made me regular ill. And days I was that dull, it made Jane regular "uffy. "You ain"t the same chap you was in London," she says, several times. I tried to lay it on "er father and "is Snacks, but bless you, she knew better. What must she "ave but that I"d got another girl on my mind! Said I wasn"t True. Well, we had a bit of a row. But I was that set on the Treasure, I didn"t seem to mind a bit Anything she said.
"Well, at last I got a sort of plan. I was always a bit good at planning, though carrying out isn"t so much in my line. I thought it all out and settled on a plan. First, I was going to take all my pockets full of these "ere "arf-crowns--see?--and afterwards as I shall tell.
"Well, I got to that state I couldn"t think of getting at the Treasure again in the daytime, so I waited until the night before I had to go, and then, when everything was still, up I gets and slips down to the back door, meaning to get my pockets full. What must I do in the scullery but fall over a pail! Up gets "er father with a gun--"e was a light sleeper was "er father, and very suspicious and there was me: "ad to explain I"d come down to the pump for a drink because my water-bottle was bad. "E didn"t let me off a Snack or two over that bit, you lay a bob."
"And you mean to say--" I began.
"Wait a bit," said Mr. Brisher. "I say, I"d made my plan. That put the kybosh on one bit, but it didn"t "urt the general scheme not a bit.
I went and I finished that rockery next day, as though there wasn"t a Snack in the world; cemented over the stones, I did, dabbed it green and everythink. I put a dab of green just to show where the box was. They all came and looked at it, and sai "ow nice it was--even "e was a bit softer like to see it, and all he said was, "It"s a pity you can"t always work like that, then you might get something definite to do," he says.
""Yes," I says--I couldn"t "elp it--"I put a lot in that rockery," I says, like that. See? "I put a lot in that rockery"--meaning--"
"I see," said I--for Mr. Brisher is apt to overelaborate his jokes.
"_"E_ didn"t," said Mr. Brisher. "Not then, anyhow.
"Ar"ever--after all that was over, off I set for London.... Orf I set for London."
Pause.
"On"y I wasn"t going to no London," said Mr. Brisher, with sudden animation, and thrusting his face into mine. "No fear! What do YOU think?
"I didn"t go no further than Colchester--not a yard.
"I"d left the spade just where I could find it. I"d got everything planned and right. I "ired a little trap in Colchester, and pretended I wanted to go to Ipswich and stop the night, and come back next day, and the chap I "ired it from made me leave two sovrings on it right away, and off I set.
"I didn"t go to no Ipswich neither.
"Midnight the "orse and trap was "itched by the little road that ran by the cottage where "e lived--not sixty yards off, it wasn"t--and I was at it like a good "un. It was jest the night for such games--overcast--but a trifle too "ot, and all round the sky there was summer lightning and presently a thunderstorm. Down it came. First big drops in a sort of fizzle, then "ail. I kep"on. I whacked at it--I didn"t dream the old man would "ear. I didn"t even trouble to go quiet with the spade, and the thunder and lightning and "ail seemed to excite me like. I shouldn"t wonder if I was singing. I got so "ard at it I clean forgot the thunder and the "orse and trap. I precious soon got the box showing, and started to lift it...."
"Heavy?" I said.
"I couldn"t no more lift it than fly. I WAS sick. I"d never thought of that I got regular wild--I tell you, I cursed. I got sort of outrageous.
I didn"t think of dividing it like for the minute, and even then I couldn"t "ave took money about loose in a trap. I hoisted one end sort of wild like, and over the whole show went with a tremenjous noise.
Perf.e.c.k smash of silver. And then right on the heels of that, Flash!
Lightning like the day! and there was the back door open and the old man coming down the garden with "is blooming old gun. He wasn"t not a "undred yards away!
"I tell you I was that upset--I didn"t think what I was doing. I never stopped-not even to fill my pockets. I went over the fence like a shot, and ran like one o"clock for the trap, cussing and swearing as I went. I WAS in a state....
"And will you believe me, when I got to the place where I"d left the "orse and trap, they"d gone. Orf! When I saw that I "adn"t a cuss left for it. I jest danced on the gra.s.s, and when I"d danced enough I started off to London.... I was done."
Mr. Brisher was pensive for an interval. "I was done," he repeated, very bitterly.
"Well?" I said.
"That"s all," said Mr. Brisher.
"You didn"t go back?"
"No fear. I"d "ad enough of THAT blooming treasure, any"ow for a bit.
Besides, I didn"t know what was done to chaps who tried to collar a treasure trove. I started off for London there and then...."
"And you never went back?"
"Never."
"But about Jane? Did you write?"
"Three times, fishing like. And no answer. We"d parted in a bit of a "uff on account of "er being jealous. So that I couldn"t make out for certain what it meant.
"I didn"t know what to do. I didn"t even know whether the old man knew it was me. I sort of kep" an eye open on papers to see when he"d give up that treasure to the Crown, as I hadn"t a doubt "e would, considering "ow respectable he"d always been."
"And did he?"
Mr. Brisher pursed his mouth and moved his head slowly from side to side. "Not "IM," he said.
"Jane was a nice girl," he said, "a thorough nice girl mind you, if jealous, and there"s no knowing I mightn"t "ave gone back to "er after a bit. I thought if he didn"t give up the treasure I might "ave a sort of "old on "im.... Well, one day I looks as usual under Colchester--and there I saw "is name. What for, d"yer think?"
I could not guess.
Mr. Brisher"s voice sank to a whisper, and once more he spoke behind his hand. His manner was suddenly suffused with a positive joy. "Issuing counterfeit coins," he said. "Counterfeit coins!"
"You don"t mean to say--?"
"Yes-It. Bad. Quite a long case they made of it. But they got "im, though he dodged tremenjous. Traced "is "aving pa.s.sed, oh!--nearly a dozen bad "arf-crowns."
"And you didn"t--?"
"No fear. And it didn"t do "IM much good to say it was treasure trove."
12. MISS WINCHELSEA"S HEART
Miss Winchelsea was going to Rome. The matter had filled her mind for a month or more, and had overflowed so abundantly into her conversation that quite a number of people who were not going to Rome, and who were not likely to go to Rome, had made it a personal grievance against her.
Some indeed had attempted quite unavailingly to convince her that Rome was not nearly such a desirable place as it was reported to be, and others had gone so far as to suggest behind her back that she was dreadfully "stuck up" about "that Rome of hers." And little Lily Hardhurst had told her friend Mr. Binns that so far as she was concerned Miss Winchelsea might "go to her old Rome and stop there; SHE (Miss Lily Hardhurst) wouldn"t grieve." And the way in which Miss Winchelsea put herself upon terms of personal tenderness with Horace and Benvenuto Cellini and Raphael and Sh.e.l.ley and Keats--if she had been Sh.e.l.ley"s widow she could not have professed a keener interest in his grave--was a matter of universal astonishment. Her dress was a triumph of tactful discretion, sensible, but not too "touristy"--Miss Winchelsea, had a great dread of being "touristy"--and her Baedeker was carried in a cover of grey to hide its glaring red. She made a prim and pleasant little figure on the Charing Cross platform, in spite of her swelling pride, when at last the great day dawned, and she could start for Rome. The day was bright, the Channel pa.s.sage would be pleasant, and all the omens promised well. There was the gayest sense of adventure in this unprecedented departure.