and I had visited The Lawn, and
Vandy and Co. were still at work. So much had been reported by an
under-gardener. For ourselves, we had finished with our cousins for good
and all. The brutal attack upon our favourite was something we could not
forget, and for a man whom beastly rage could so much degrade we had no
use. Naturally enough, his sisters went with him. Orders were given to
the servants that to callers from Broken Ash Daphne was "not at home,"
and we were one and all determined, so far as was possible, never to see
or communicate with Vandy or his sisters again. It was natural, however,
that we should be deeply interested in the success or failure of his
venture. We prayed fervently, but without much hope, that it might
fail.... After all, it was always on the cards that another had stumbled
long since upon the treasure, or that a thief had watched its burial and
later come privily and unearthed it. We should see.

"I wonder you aren't ashamed of yourself," said Miss Feste. "At your age
you ought to have sown all your wild oats."

"So I have," I said stoutly. "And they weren't at all wild, either. I've
never seen such a miserable crop. As soon as the sun rose, they all
withered away."

"The sun?"

I turned and looked at her. The steady brown eyes held mine with a
searching look. I met it faithfully. After a few seconds they turned
away.

"The sun?" she repeated quietly.

"The sun, Adele. The sun that rose in America in 1895. Out of the foam
of the sea. I can't tell you the date, but it must have been a beautiful
day."

There was a pause. Then--

"How interesting!" said Adele. "So it withered them up, did it?"

I nodded.

"You see, Adele, they had no root."

"None of them?"

"None."

Adele looked straight ahead of her into the box-hedge, which rose, stiff
and punctilious, ten paces away, the counterpart of that beneath which
we were sitting. For once in a way, her merry smile was missing. In its
stead Gravity sat in her eyes, hung on the warm red lips. I had known
her solemn before, but not like this. The proud face looked very
resolute. There was a strength about the lift of the delicate chin, a
steadfast fearlessness about the poise of the well-shaped
head--unworldly wonders, which I had never seen. Over the glorious
temples the soft dark hair swept rich and lustrous. The exquisite column
of her neck rose from her flowered silk gown with matchless elegance.
Her precious hands, all rosy, la