"I see what it is! My aunt has promised to leave you as much as she can--"

"Then why should I object to her buying the furniture?"

"All I know is you won't get it. I shall visit the nearest auctioneer tomorrow--"

"It's time we changed the subject. I believe this is your property,"

interrupted Nellie, holding out the packet wrapped in paper. "Do you think it fair to ask Miss Sophy to pay for the furniture twice over, when you have just come into two thousand pounds?" she added.

"Who told you that?" cried Percy, s.n.a.t.c.hing the packet and tearing off the covering. "My pocketbook! You stole it from my room. You have been through my letters. You are the most unscrupulous young woman!"

"We had better not talk about stealing. Perhaps you remember sitting in the garden with Miss Lee yesterday evening. You did not come in until dark, and you were so much engaged in discussing your plans that you forgot to bring in the chairs. You also forgot your pocketbook. Kezia found it and gave it to me. Now I return it."

"After turning it inside out," he muttered, dropping the lion's hide and a.s.suming the calfskin.

"I have not even opened it," she replied.

"Then how do you know I have come into two thousand pounds?"

"A gentleman called Crampy told me."

"Crampy! He couldn't tell you--he wouldn't!"

"It must have been one of the parrots then," said Nellie gleefully. "Let me tell you a story! Once upon a time there was an idle gentleman who had made up his mind never to work for his living, because he owned a pair of Chinese vases which were supposed to be priceless. This gentleman had a cousin, who knew the vases were exceedingly valuable, and, as he was a bad man, in fact a terribly unscrupulous man," said Nellie, opening her eyes widely.

"Here, I say! You stop that!" bellowed Percy.

"I'm having my revenge for being called a little devil," she said gaily.

"As this cousin was a thorough scoundrel, he determined to grab the vases, so he went to another unscrupulous man called Crampy and told him, if he could get the vases cheaply from the idle gentleman, he should have half the profit. Crampy agreed, visited the gentleman, saw that the vases were genuine, and offered him a thousand pounds. The offer was refused and Crampy went away, beaten on the first round. His next step was to send the idle gentleman a list of collectors who could be trusted; and this was followed by a visit from an American millionaire, Josiah P. Jenkins, who in his own domestic circle was generally known as Bill Sawdye."

Percy forgot himself and swore.

"The story is not very clear at this point, but it appears Bill Sawdye was a sort of handyman employed by Crampy for dirty little jobs like this. He offered the idle gentleman two thousand pounds for the vases.

This was accepted, Bill paid the money, and took the things away."

"I don't want to hear any more," muttered Percy, gulping like a fish.

"But I must have the satisfaction of showing you how well up I am in the latest criminal news," said Nellie. "Next day Bill sent back the vases, swearing they were forgeries, and a.s.suring him Crampy was the last hope.

The idle gentleman communicated at once with Crampy, agreeing to accept his offer. Crampy paid the thousand pounds and went off with the vases.

He sold them for five thousand, and that left four thousand to be divided between the wicked cousin and himself. It was understood that Crampy should pay Bill and all expenses. These two scoundrels expect to live happily ever after, but I'm sure they won't," concluded Nellie.

"I was a fool to have kept Crampy's letter. But what right had you to take it out of my pocketbook and read it?" growled Percy.

"I told you I never looked inside your pocketbook, but you left it unfastened, and there was a good deal of wind in the night. This morning, when I went out to pick sweet-peas, I saw a letter blown against the sticks. I glanced at it out of ordinary curiosity, I read on out of interest, and I finished it out of duty."

"Now you can hand it over," said Percy sulkily.

"I intend to keep it for the present. I may even have to send it on to Mr. George."

"He can't do anything. It was a trick, but a perfectly straightforward business trick. Crampy made an offer, and he accepted it."

"Mr. George is a stronger man than you, though he does pretend to have a weak back. If he knew about this, and could get at you, I believe he would break your head. He would write to Hunter anyhow, tell Miss Lee and all her family--"

"Do you know his address?"

"Yes, and I can bring him here tomorrow; and I will too, if you refuse to make over the furniture to Miss Sophy. That is only fair, as she has paid for it."

"If I consent to make my aunt a present of the furniture?" suggested Percy.

"Then I promise not to mention the matter to Mr. George."

"All right. I'll tell Hunter to draw up a deed of gift. Of course you understand it would be useless telling George, as he cannot recover the vases or make any claim against me?"

"Then why are you clearing out of the country?"

"The soil of Tasmania is said to be ideal for--"

"Fugitives from justice," finished Nellie.

"Emmie, my darling," said Percy, a few minutes after this interview, "I feel quite certain there is something wrong with the drains. I shall tell aunt we are leaving in the morning."

"Percy is so wonderfully unselfish," said Miss Yard to Nellie that evening. "He has made me a present of all the furniture; and tomorrow he is going to find me a new home."

CHAPTER XV

A NEW HOUSE AND THE SAME OLD FURNITURE

Miss Yard became uncontrollable, almost dangerous, when Percy wrote informing her he had discovered a house situated upon high ground, quite fifty feet above the meadows through which the Drivel percolated. The garden soil was a singularly fertile gravel; the view, which was monotonous, consisting chiefly of mole heaps, was fortunately blotted out by lichened apple trees; while the princ.i.p.al reception room had been designed, in his opinion, with a view to knitting parties; and a retired Archdeacon had quite recently pa.s.sed away in the best bedroom.

The old lady craved for Drivelford delights every hour of the day. She escaped constantly from the garden to begin the first of the hundred miles which separated her from such a respectable abode. When imprisoned in the parlour, she wrote a quant.i.ty of letters to old friends, most of whom had travelled far outside the radius of the postal union, inviting them to her first tea party at the Lodge, Drivelford. The name of the house was really Wistaria Lodge; but Percy had recommended the shorter form as less of a committal.

"Percy must live with us; he will enjoy the river. Don't you remember the gentlemen, in long coats and round hats, who used to sit all day smoking and tasting something out of jars? Percy would like that," she said merrily.

"Mr. Taverner is now a married man, and by this time he is a thousand miles away. I suppose you are referring to Mr. George," said Nellie.

"Of course I mean George. Why don't you listen, child? He can sit by the river with the rest of the gentlemen. He can hand round the cakes, and talk to the ladies. Give nice things, and say nice things. I wonder if somebody told me that, or whether I invented it. I used to be clever once; twenty years ago I could have told you what Wistaria meant."

"It's a creeper," explained Nellie. "But Mr. Taverner as good as says there isn't one."

"I'm glad of that. I do not like creeping things. Now I'm going to write to George. My memory is wonderfully good today, and yet I cannot remember the name of the lady he married."

"My memory is better than yours, but I cannot remember it either,"

laughed Nellie. "When Mr. George marries, I shall expect to hear your banns read out."

"I could have married once," declared Miss Yard. "He was a curate with such a funny face, and his nose was just like a cork."