"It would be, only for one thing—we don't know where Tom is. He used to live in New York, but moved away, we don't know where. A party told me he thought he had got work in a place called Fairwood, but I've just come from there."
"And you didn't find him?"
"No; he had never been in the place. I have an idea he is again somewhere in New York."
"Didn't he used to call on you?"
"Sometimes; but he was a bit queer, and there was times he didn't show up for months and months. He's pretty old, and couldn't get around very well."
"Is the property valuable?"
"It's worth over eight hundred pounds—four thousand dollars."
"It's a fortune!" exclaimed Richard.
"'Twould be to Betty and me," returned the sailor. "We never had over a hundred dollars in cash in our lives."
"It's a pity you can't find him," said the boy. "What are you going to do? Get your wife's share, and let the other rest?"