"I don't jest like to give up the money," he said—eyeing the gold with well-acted greed; "but perhaps you will help me in a way I like better."
"How!—what can be better than money?" questioned Leicester. "I thought you Yankees considered the almighty dollar above all things."
"Once in a while there may be things that we like better than that, though we do love to plant the root of evil whenever we can get seed, jest as I want to plant that are gold eagle where it will bring a crop of the same sort."
"Oh, that is it!" said Leicester, laughing, "I thought there must be something to come. But do you remember the old proverb about a 'bird in the hand?'"
"Wal, yes. It seems to me as if I did remember something about it," answered Jacob, putting his huge hand to his forehead; "'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,' isn't that the poetry you mean?"
"Yes, that is quite near enough. Now tell me about this lady, and we will talk of the reward after. You found the number of the house?"
"No. It wasn't numbered; but that made no difference, she didn't live there; only staid there one night. Besides, she wasn't a lady, only a kind of help, you know!"
"A governess or waiting-maid—I thought so," exclaimed Leicester. "Very well, where is she now?"
"She went away with the folks that she had been living with, up to Saratoga, and about; then she came back, and they all went off together across the water, to where she came from."
"What, to Europe? Then that is the last of her! Very well, my good fellow, you have earned the money."