Fie on you for a Doubting Thomas!"

"We sometimes go many miles to find, in the end, that the treasure was
all the time under our very eyes."

"Hyperbole!" But she looked down at the lichen again and began pealing
it off the stone. She thought of a duke she knew. At this instant he
would have been telling her that she was the most beautiful woman since
Helen. What a relief this man at her side was! She was perfectly
aware that he admired her, but he veiled his tributes with half-smiles
and flashes of humor. "What a gay little man that Mr. Ferraud is!"

"Lively as a cricket. Your father, I understand, is to take him as far
as Marseilles. After to-night everything will be quite formal, I
suppose. Honestly, I feel ill at ease in accepting your splendid
hospitality. I'm an interloper. I haven't even the claim of an
ordinary introduction. It has been very, very kind of you."

"You know Mrs. Coldfield. I will, if you wish it, ask her to present
you to me."

"I am really serious."

"So am I."

"They will be here to-morrow?"

"Yes. And in four days we sail. Oh, it is all so beautiful! A real
treasure hunt."