“Oh, nothing in particular. He remarked, as he drove on, that it was too much good fortune for one man, or some such words.”
“Then he knew that the box contained gold?”
“Oh, yes; I told him. The colonel, you know, made no secret of receiving such packages.”
Mr. Haywood knit his brow, and said, as if speaking half to himself:
“That is another singular circumstance.”
“What?” asked some one in the crowd.
“Why, it seems that this young man knew of the presence of the gold in the house, and he cannot be found this morning. His companion (they claimed to be cousins) is also missing, and a horse and buggy that he hired yesterday were found before daylight this morning standing in front of the livery-stable.”
“Ha!” exclaimed one. “It would be well to watch for these young men, and make them give an account of their movements.”
This sentiment found instant echo in the crowd, and was immediately taken up as the burden of their discussions.
Geoffrey Haywood’s solemn expression of countenance gave way, for a mere instant, to a look of satisfaction. But he said, with a sigh: