Rollo Dangerfield looked at her with something like affection showing in his eyes.
“Who could understand better than I do? It’s like waking out of a nightmare to find the sun shining in through the window. And we owe our awakening to you and Mr. Westenhanger. You don’t imagine I under-rate that, surely? I dare say you think you understand what this means for me; perhaps you have some faint conception. But unless you had actually gone through it yourselves you couldn’t come near the real thing. It’s lasted fifty years, and that’s only a few years less than your two lives put together. And now—daylight! I shall be glad to have a year or two of decent life at the end of it all.”
Westenhanger saw something in the old man’s eyes which made him interpose with a fresh subject.
“And what about the Talisman now, Mr. Dangerfield? Will you use the Corinthian’s safe deposit still? It’s lain there safely enough all these years. That’s why I locked the door—so that no one should blunder in and notice the hiding-place when it was open. I thought you might want it again.”
“The Talisman?” repeated Rollo. “Do you know, I could almost find it in my heart to sell the Talisman—give Wraxall his desire, after all. If I had a decent excuse for doing it, I think I would. I’ve hated it for years. But I suppose we must keep it, now that it’s come into our hands again. I want no more possible regrets, and one might regret having let it go, after these centuries. We don’t need to sell it; there are other things to sell.”
He bent over the table and examined the jewellery which had come from the Corinthian’s hiding-place. After a careful scrutiny he picked up the diamond pendant and turned to Eileen.
“You talked about your memories of Friocksheim, Miss Cressage, and, believe me, I was touched by what you said. Now I should like you to have something which will always remind you of the old place in that aspect.”
He offered her the glittering gems, and, when she made a gesture of refusal, he continued as though he had not noticed it.
“I know you don’t wear jewellery, so in its present form it would hardly serve. But this central stone would set well in a ring. Get it taken out; and do as you please with the rest—sell them, if you choose. There’s no sentiment in the matter; for I intend to sell the rest of the things here and use the money to clear our feet at last. So you are free to follow that good example if you please.”
He saw her expression and tried a different argument.