“No, Mrs. Price refused to let him have them until she had seen you and Mary. For my part, I should have given them to the man and let him go. We had a terrible scene with him, but Mrs. Price was firm. She said it would do no harm for him to wait until she had seen you and she would not allow him to take them.”
“Thank heavens for that,” burst out Billie. “Then the box is in Mrs. Price’s safe?”
“No, I had it brought here for safe-keeping. The man was so angry he made threats and I thought it would be better to get it away from Mrs. Price’s at least.”
“What was the man’s name?”
“Lafitte. He wrote it on a piece of paper.”
“Lafitte?” echoed Billie. “What did he look like?”
“I cannot really recall, my dear. I was so agitated. But I think there was something wrong about one eye.”
“He had only one eye,” Billie almost shrieked in her excitement.
“I believe so, and only one arm. But you will see him. He will be back this morning.”
“Cousin Helen, he will never come back. He is a thief and a robber and a smuggler. He is everything that is wicked and bad. I don’t know how he found out that we had the jewels, but he has been hot on our track ever since. I will tell you the real story of the jewels and then you will see what an injustice you have done us.”