“Yes,� said I, and then I added in duty bound, “but you surely would not be so foolish, Mistress Wilberforce, as to risk your all in this wild goose chase?�
“If you were in my position, Master Hampdon, what would you do?� she asked pointedly.
“I am a man,� I answered, “accustomed to shift for myself. I might take a risk which I would not advise you to essay.�
“I must shift for myself, too,� she said, her eyes sparkling. The Goddess Fortune which had ruined her father was evidently jogging her elbow. “Indeed, I shall take the chance,� she persisted. “I am resolved upon it.�
“But you could easily live on two thousand pounds for a long while,� I urged, against my wish, for I was keen to go treasure hunting with her for a shipmate.
“Not such life as I crave. If I cannot have enough for my desires I would be no worse off had I nothing.�
“But it is a long chance,� I persisted, “upon which to risk your all.�
“Master Hampdon,� she said solemnly, “the fact of the separation of those two pieces of parchment for a century and a half, and the fact that they come together in me, one half received from each of the dead who in neither case knew of the existence of the other half, the fact that I am Sir Philip Wilberforce’s last descendant through both the original heirs—see you not something providential in all this?�
“A strange coincidence,� I admitted.
“More than that,� she protested.