"Don't remember him a bit. What did he see there?"
"Nothin' but diamond jewellery," said Squire Deacon in a sentimental tone. "Miss Faith, you doubtless recollect the tale?"
"I hope," said Mr. Somers,—"ha!—friend Deacon—you don't mean that
Mr. Linden should look for a valley of diamonds in Pattaquasset?"
"Whereabouts does the valley lie, sir?" said Mr. Linden.
But the Squire, as if a new idea had struck him, replied somewhat brusquely,
"It don't lie nowheres, sir, nowheres but in fancy's field."
"I suppose," said Mr. Somers smiling blandly, "Mr. Linden's peculiar course of business don't lead him much into that field."
"You can strike into it 'most anywhere," said Miss Danforth. "Mr. Linden's an early man—he'll find the valley of diamonds, if it's in the town."
"Miss Faith told me there were stones enough here," he said, "but she did not hint that any of them were precious."
"We shall expect," said Mr. Somers, "to see some of our stones—I mean, some of our hard heads and thick heads—grow precious, or—a—improve!—under Mr. Linden's management."