“It seems such a shame!” she exclaimed. “A fortune gone to waste!” 210
“Without anyone having the fun of wasting it!” laughed Croyden.
She took up Parmenter’s letter again, and glanced over it. Then she handed it back, and shook her head.
“It’s too much for my poor brain,” she said. “I surrender.”
“Precisely where we landed. We gave it rather more than a fair trial, and, then, we gave it up. I’m done. When I go home, to-night, I shall return the letter to the escritoire where I found it, and forget it. There is no profit in speculating further.”
“You can return it to its hiding place,” she reflected, “but you can’t cease wondering. Why didn’t Marmaduke Duval get the treasure while the landmarks were there? Why did he leave it for his heirs?”
“Probably on account of old Parmenter’s restriction that it be left until the ‘extremity of need.’”
She nodded, in acquiescence.
“Probably,” she said, “the Duvals would regard it as a matter of honor to observe the exact terms of the bequest. Alas! Alas! that they did so!”
“It’s only because they did so, that I got a chance to search!” Croyden laughed.