Darsie was one of the last guests to arrive upon the final scene of the
treasure hunt, and already the merry process of parcel opening had
begun. The young girl who had captured three prizes was on her knees
before a garden seat, laying them out in a row to be seen and admired of
all. Gaily dressed women were running about appealing to their male
friends for the loan of penknives to cut the encircling string, and the
air was full of the sound of laughter and happy, triumphant voices.
"How lovely! How beautiful! Isn't it charming? _Just_ what I wanted!"
Darsie stood in the background, her hands clasping her bundle behind her
back, so as to screen it from view until the right moment arrived for
its production. The prize-winners were one and all in such a desperate
hurry to examine their "finds" that she would not have long to wait, and
meanwhile the scene was delightful to witness.
Every one looked gay, and happy and smiling; the many-coloured frocks of
the women made charming flecks of colour against the sombre green of the
old cedar, as they moved to and fro with dazzling, kaleidoscopic effect.
Darsie had never even imagined such a scene; it seemed to her more like
fairyland than the dull work-a-day world.
She looked on, absorbed in delighted admiration, while one after another
the coverings were torn from the dainty packages, and the brilliance of
the scene was enhanced by the glitter of silver, and glass, and dainty
patches of colour. It would take long, indeed, to write of the
treasures which Mrs Percival had amassed in that day in town; it seemed
to Darsie that nothing less than the contents of an entire shop window
could have supplied so bewildering a variety. Bags, purses, satchels,
brushes, manicure-cases, blotters, boxes, cigarette-cases, photograph
frames, fans, brooches, bracelets, buckles, studs, tie-pins, waistcoat
buttons--wherever the eye turned there seemed something fresh and
beautiful to admire.
After such an Aladdin's feast, would not her workman's bundle fall very
flat? With a sudden access of humility Darsie was about to turn tail
and put the poor man's dinner back in its hiding-place, when from across
the lawn she met Ralph's eyes fixed upon her with an expression of
patronising commiseration. He was pitying her, because she had come
back empty-handed when sharper eyes had reaped so rich a harvest! That
touch of superiority made short work of Darsie's hesitation. She would
show that she was in no need of pity, that so far from being overpowered
by failure, she remained jaunty and self-confident enough to turn her
own disappointment into a joke for the amusement of others! With head
thrown back she marched dramatically forward to the spot where Mrs
Percival stood, the gracious mistress of the ceremonies, and held the
bundle towards her in extended hands.
"Dear child, what have you there? A bundle--a workman's bundle! Where
in the world have you discovered that?"
"In the trunk of an old tree, in the orchard near the wall."
"In the orchard? It belongs most likely to one of the men. His dinner,
I should say, but what an odd place to hide it! So dirty!" She gave a
dainty little shake of distaste. "I should put it away, dear, really!
It is covered with dust."
"It's a very _lumpy_ dinner," said Darsie, patting the surface of the
bundle with curious fingers. "I thought perhaps it was a treasure done
up in a different way from the others. It's heavy, too, far heavier
than bread and cheese. I can open it, can't I? Just to make sure!"
"Oh, certainly, if you like--" assented Mrs Percival dubiously, and
Darsie waited for no further permission, but promptly knelt down on the
grass and set to work to untie the knotted ends of the checked
handkerchief. The surrounding guests gathered around in a laughing
circle, being in the gay and gratified frame of mind when any
distraction is met halfway, and ensured of a favourable reception. What
was this pretty girl about? What joke was hidden away in this
commonplace-looking bundle?
The knot was strongly tied, but Darsie's fingers were strong also and in
a minute's time it was undone, and the corners of the handkerchief
dropped on the grass to reveal an inner bag of thick grey linen tied
again round the mouth.
"It _is_ lumpy!" repeated Darsie again; then with a tug the string came
loose, and lifting the bag in her hands, she rained its contents over
the grass.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Was it a dream? Was it some fantasy of imagination--some wonderful
effect of sunshine shining upon hundreds and hundreds of dewdrops, and
turning them into scintillating balls of light, catching reflections
from the flowers in yonder beds, and sending dancing rays of red, blue,
and green across the grass? Red and blue and green the rainbow drops
gleamed upon the ground, vivid and clear as the loveliest among the
blossoms, but possessed of a radiance which no earth flower had
inherited before.
Darsie sat back on her heels, her arms, falling slack by her sides, her
wide eyes fixed on the ground in a surprise too complete for speech.
Nobody spoke; the stupor in her own brain must surely have communicated
itself to the guests crowding around, for while one might have counted
fifty there was blank, utter silence upon the lawn. Then suddenly came
a dramatic interruption; a cry, almost a scream, in a high, feminine
voice, and a tall, fashionably dressed woman grasped wildly at a
dangling chain of stones.
"My rubies! My rubies! My beautiful, beautiful rubies! Found again!
_Safe_! Oh, my rubies!" She burst into excited sobs, a gentleman came
forward and led her gently aside, but her place was immediately taken by
other women--white-faced, eager, trembling with anxiety.
"Oh! Oh-h--let me look! It's the jewels, the lost jewels-- Are my
diamonds among them? Do you see a diamond necklace with an emerald
clasp? Oh, _do_, do look!"
"My sapphires! They were taken, too. My sapphires!--"
They fell on their knees, regardless of their filmy draperies, and
grasped at one shining treasure after another. The delicate chains were
knotted together; curved corners of gold had caught in other curved
corners, so that in some cases half a dozen different ornaments
presented the appearance of one big, bejewelled ball, and it was no easy
matter to disentangle one from the other. The different owners,
however, showed a marvellous quickness in recognising even a fragment of
their lost treasures, and their exultation was somewhat undignified as
they turned and twisted and coaxed the dainty threads, and finally
clasped their lost treasures, safe and sound, and all the time Darsie
sat back on her heels, with her golden hair hanging in heavy masses over
her shoulders, her eyes fixed upon this extraordinary scene, staring--
staring!
"Darsie, dear child, how can we thank you?" Mrs Percival's low voice
trembled with earnestness; she had lifted a long string of pearls from
the grass, and now held it between both hands, with a transparent
pleasure it was true, but without any of the hysteric excitement shown
by her guests.
"Do you realise all that your workman's bundle contained, or the weight
you have taken off our minds? It was the thief's bundle, the bundle of
jewels which he stole from the house on the night of the Hunt Ball,
which we have tried so hard to recover! To think--to think that all
this time they have been hidden close at hand!"
"Hidden with a purpose, too! Look at this, Evelyn!" interrupted Mr
Percival, holding out a corner of the checked handkerchief towards his
wife, with a stern look on his handsome face--
"`B.W.' That's Wilson's property! He was a worse offender than we
thought."
"Wilson? That was the young gamekeeper, wasn't it?" asked another man--
the husband of the lady who was still crooning over her recovered
diamonds. "You thought he had been led away by smart London thieves,
but this seems as if he had taken a leading part. Looks, too, as if
there may have been only himself and Forbes in the affair!"
"Just so! No wonder Wilson refused to give the names of his colleagues.
When the chase grew too hot he hid the spoils in this tree--evidently
an old hiding-place--before climbing the wall. If he had made clear
away that night we should never have suspected his share in the theft.
He would have turned up as usual next morning, and expressed great
surprise at the news. As it is he and Forbes are no doubt patiently
waiting until their sentences are out, expecting to slip back some dark
night and secure their prey. From such point of view it is a small
business to serve a few months when there's a fortune waiting at the
end! Well, this takes ten years off my back. I can't tell you how the
whole business has preyed on our minds. My dear fellow, I am so
thankful that your diamonds have turned up!"
"My dear fellow, it was fifteen times worse for you than for us! A most
uncomfortable position; I congratulate you a hundred times. Just in the
nick of time, too. In a month or so there would have been no bundle to
discover."
A general gasp at once of dismay and relief passed round the little
inner circle of those most nearly interested in the recovered treasures,
and the first excitement of recovery having passed, every one seemed
bent on lavishing thanks and praises upon the girl through whom the
happy discovery had come about.
"Who is she?"
"What is her name?"
"Where does she come from?" The questions buzzed on every side, and the
answer, "Lady Hayes's grand-niece," served only to enhance existing
attractions. Darsie found herself kissed, patted, embraced, called by a
dozen caressing names by half a dozen fine ladies in turn, during which
process every eye on the lawn was turned upon her blushing face.
Through a gap in the crowd she could see Lady Hayes holding as it were a
secondary court, being thanked effusively for possessing a grand-niece
with a faculty for recovering jewels, and bowing acknowledgments with a
bright patch of colour on either cheekbone. The position was so strange
and bewildering that even yet it seemed more like a dream than reality;
that sudden rain of jewels descending from the linen bag was the sort of
thing one might expect in an Arabian night adventure rather than in the
midst of a decorous English garden-party! It must surely be in
imagination that she, Darsie Garnett, has been hailed as a good fairy to
all these fashionably dressed men and women!
The almost hysteric effusion of the women who kissed and gushed around
her must surely have something infectious in its nature, since she
herself was beginning to feel an insane inclination to burst into tears
or laughter, it was immaterial which of the two it should be. Darsie
turned a quick look around, searching for a way of escape, and at that
moment Noreen's hand pressed on her arm, and she found herself being led
gently towards the house.
"Poor old Darsie, then! She looks quite dazed!" said Noreen's voice.
"No wonder, after all that fuss. You've been kissed to pieces, poor
dear, and howled over, too. Silly things! howling when things are lost,
and howling again when they are found! I've no patience with them; but,
oh, my dear, I _do_ bless you for what you've done! You've no idea how
relieved we shall be. It was such a _stigma_ to have your guests robbed
under your own roof, and by one of your own men, too. Mother has never
been the same since--worried herself into nerves, and fancied every one
blamed her, and thought she'd been careless. You can't think _how_
happy she'll be writing to the people who aren't here to-day telling
them that their things are found. She'll feel a new creature."
"I'm so glad. She's a dear. Wasn't she sweet and dignified among them
all? Oh, dear! I'm all churned up. I thought as I couldn't find a
treasure I'd have a little joke on my own account, and after all I found
the biggest treasure of all, Noreen! how much money were those things
worth?"
"Oh, my dear, don't ask me! Mother's pearls alone are worth three
thousand, and that's nothing to the rest. Mrs Ferriers' rubies are the
most valuable, I believe. Altogether it must be a fortune--to say
nothing of the associations. Isn't it strange to think of? An hour ago
you were a stranger whom scarcely any one knew even by sight, and now in
a flash you have become a celebrity, a heroine--the pet of the county!"
"Am I? Really? It sounds agreeable. I'll write to-night and tell Vie
Vernon, and sign myself `The Pet of the County.' She _will_ be
impressed. Pity it wasn't my own county, where it would be of more use.
I shall probably never see these good people again."
"Fiddle!" cried Noreen derisively. "No chance of that. Whether you
like it or no, my dear, this day has settled your fate. You can never
be a mere acquaintance any more. You've done us a service which will
bind us together as long as we live. Henceforth a bit of you belongs to
us, and we'll see that we get it!"