“Well then, if he is straight, why mistrust him?”
“I said on the whole he is straight; but he does certain things of which I do not approve.”
“Such as stopping your wooing,” chuckled the journalist. “Ho! Ho!”
“I rather refer to his selling certain valuable furniture which belongs to Marie, and which I am pretty sure he has no right to dispose of.”
“It sounds crooked. But after all he is her guardian, and you don’t know what power the will of her father gives him.”
“I mean to find that out by an examination of the will at Somerset House, Dicky. Sorley enjoys Marie’s income and his own and has the benefit of living at The Monastery rent free. He is, as you know, crazy about jewels, and from what Marie tells me he uses all the cash to buy them. She only has her clothes and a few shillings a week for pocket money. But he never allows her to go into county society, nor does he take her to town.”
Latimer removed his pipe and nodded. “He wants her to remain as a flower unseen until she is of age. Then he will hand over the accumulated money in the form of jewels, and will present her to an astonished world when she come of age in a year and his guardianship ceases.”
“Hum!” said Alan dubiously, “so you say. But my impressions are quite different. It is my opinion that this precious guardian will not be able to render an honest account of his stewardship, but, when required to do so, will bolt with the jewels upon which he has squandered Marie’s money and with the fortune of the peacock if he can find the same.”
“Is there any difficulty in finding it, Alan?”
“Yes. In the first place the fortune is hidden and only by gaining possession of the peacock can the clue be found to its whereabouts. And in the second place, even if that bird——”