"I am willing to share the risk if it is shareable--or to assume the whole of it, for the matter of that. I incline strongly to your belief, Miss Brodie, that there is something hidden well worth the finding, and that its hiding-place is within the walls of Clover Cottage."
Jack Martyn hammered his fist upon the table.
"Hear, hear!--bravo!--spoken like a man! 'Pon my word, I'm beginning to think that there is something in it after all. A conviction is creeping over me, slowly but surely, that in less time than no time I shall be filling my pockets with the contents of Aladdin's Cave--and as there is only a bent sixpence and two bad pennies in them at present, there's plenty of room for more."
"The point is," said Ella, "where are you going to begin to look?"
"I am going to do what Mr. Nicholls wanted to do," declared Madge--"tear the house to pieces."
"But, my dear, even if you set about the business in that drastic fashion, you'll require method. How are you going to begin to take the house to pieces--by taking the slates off the roof, and the chimney-pots down?"
"And by taking the windows out of their frames, and the doors off their hinges, and displaying the grates in the front garden! George! you'll be improving the property with a vengeance if you do."
"I propose to do nothing so absurd. I simply wish you to understand that before I give up the search the house will literally have been torn to pieces--though I assure you, Ella, that I do not intend to begin by taking off either the slates or the chimney-pots."
"Have you been able to make anything more of the writing which was left behind by your burglarious visitor?"
The inquiry came from Graham. Madge shook her head.