“We have quarrelled once or twice, you know,” said Elfrida virtuously.
“Yes, we have,” said Edred firmly.
They needn’t, they felt, have confessed this—and that made them feel that they were good now, if never before.
“Well, don’t quarrel any more. I shall be coming over for good quite soon, then we’ll have glorious times. Perhaps we’ll find the treasure. You’ve heard about the treasure?”
“I should jolly well think we had,” Edred couldn’t help saying. And Elfrida added—
“And looked for it, too—but we haven’t found it. Did you ever look for it?”
“No,” said Aunt Edith, “but I always wanted to. My grandfather used to look for it when he was a little boy.”
“Was your grandfather Lord Arden?” Edred asked.
“No; he was the grandson of the Lord Arden who fought for King James the Third, as they called him—the Pretender, you know—when he was quite a boy. And they let him off because of his being so young. And then he mortgaged all the Arden lands to keep the Young Pretender—Prince Charlie, you know, in the ballads. He got money to send to him, and of course Prince Charlie was going to pay it back when he was king. Only he never was king,” she sighed.
“And is that why the Tallow King got all the Arden land?”