"Yes."

"Then suppose you read it to me."

He listened with the closest attention while she read. The
question of stealing the diamonds (if they could only be found)
did not trouble either of them. It was a settled question, by
tacit consent on both sides. But the value in money of the
precious stones suggested a doubt that still weighed on his mind.

"How do you know they're worth five thousand pounds?" he
inquired.

"You dear old stupid! Doesn't Westerfield himself say so in his
letter?"

"Read that bit again."

She read it again: "After the two calamities of the loss of the
ship, and the disappearance of the diamonds--these last being
valued at five thousand pounds--I returned to England."

Satisfied so far, he wanted to look at the cipher next. She
handed it to him with a stipulation: "Yours, Jemmy, on the day
when you marry me."

He put the slip of paper into his pocket. "Now I've got it," he
said, "suppose I keep it?"

A woman who has been barmaid at a public-house is a woman not