ten-golden-sovereigns--all to your little self. It only occurred to me
after Bert told me about it, that I ain't been in the house alone for
years."

He ordered some more beer, and, drawing Mr. Chase to a bench, sat down to
a long and steady argument. It shook his faith in human nature to find
that his friend estimated the affair as a twenty-pound job, but he was in
no position to bargain. They came out smoking twopenny cigars whose
strength was remarkable for their age, and before they parted Mr. Chase
was pledged to the hilt to do all that he could to save Mrs. Teak from
the vice of avarice.

It was a more difficult undertaking than he had supposed. The house,
small and compact, seemed to offer few opportunities for the concealment
of large sums of money, and after a fortnight's residence he came to the
conclusion that the treasure must have been hidden in the garden. The
unalloyed pleasure, however, with which Mrs. Teak regarded the efforts
of her husband to put under cultivation land that had lain fallow for
twenty years convinced both men that they were on a wrong scent. Mr.
Teak, who did the digging, was the first to realize it, but his friend,
pointing out the suspicions that might be engendered by a sudden
cessation of labour, induced him to persevere.

"And try and look as if you liked it," he said, severely. "Why, from the
window even the back view of you looks disagreeable."

"I'm fair sick of it," declared Mr. Teak. "Anybody might ha' known she
wouldn't have buried it in the garden. She must 'ave been saving for
pretty near thirty years, week by week, and she couldn't keep coming out
here to hide it. 'Tain't likely."