She shook her head and said fiercely: “I have other means.”
“What are they?” he asked contemptuously.
“That incalculable fortune—those riches I have won.”
“Thanks to whom?” he said lightly. “If ever there was a spark of real intelligence in that strange adventure, didn’t I supply it?”
“Perhaps. But it was I who knew how to act and to take. And that’s everything. As far as words went, you were never at a loss for them. But what was wanted was deeds; and those deeds I did. Because Clarice is alive and you are free, you shout: ‘Victory!’ But Clarice’s life and your liberty are but little things beside the great thing which was the stake for which we fought. That is to say the thousands and thousands of precious stones. The real battle was there; and I won it, for the treasure is mine.”
“Can one ever be quite sure?” said Ralph in a mocking tone.
“Yes: the treasure is mine. With my own hands I heaped the countless stones into a portmanteau, which was fastened and sealed before my eyes, which I carried to Havre, which I hid in the bottom of the hold of the Glow-worm, and took away before I blew the vessel up. It is now in London in the strong-room of a bank, tied up and sealed as it was at the beginning.”
“Yes, yes,” agreed Ralph readily. “The rope is unbroken, still tight in its place.... There are five seals, the sealing-wax is violet, with the initials J.B.—Josephine Balsamo—on them. As for the trunk it’s of plaited wicker-work, with leather straps and handles—one of those simple things which attract no one’s attention——”
Josephine stared at him with frightened eyes and said: “You know?... How do you know?”
“We spent a few hours together, I and that trunk,” he said, laughing.