“Guy?” asked Mermaid. A quick ear would have caught the peculiar note in her voice.
“Guy goes around with a hang-dog look. He never speaks to any one. He lives like a hermit, and his father’ll make him as bad as himself,” stated Keturah, with conviction.
“I must go see him,” said the girl. Her voice was deep and vibrant. “I must see his father.”
“His father has got Aunt Keturah’s jewels,” announced Mrs. Hand. “I’ve been sure of it ever since the day they disappeared over to the beach. How he knew about them I don’t pretend to say; but as he followed Captain John Hawkins in the command of the China Castle he must have come to knowledge of them some way or other. Do you remember when you were not more than eleven his coming to call here?”
“I’ve never forgotten it.”
“He said a Captain King was dead and that he had killed him. He said this Captain King wouldn’t trouble us any longer—your father and me. Your father remembered then that one of the crew from the wreck of the ship, the ship you were saved from, had talked of a Captain King when he was dying and of a little girl that must have been you. So we thought—your father thought, anyway—that Captain Vanton might have known something about you.” She reached over and took Mermaid’s hand, awkwardly. “He went to see him, but Captain Vanton couldn’t or wouldn’t tell him anything.” Keturah paused and sighed.
“Captain Vanton told Dickie Hand’s father about the death of Captain King,” said Mermaid, surprising her aunt. “Dickie once told me so.”
“I want to know!” exclaimed Keturah. She was silent for several moments in busy speculation.
“What do you make of it all?” she asked, finally, lifting her head. Mermaid, who had been looking steadfastly at the wall, her hands clasped behind her head, the whiteness of her arm gleaming against the rich colouring of her hair, spoke without looking at her aunt, without shifting her pose.
“I make something of it,” she said, “and I am going to find out—something. I may not find out the truth of it all, but I will at least find out if I am wrong.”