opening and
closing the doors of the old pews. Archie was accosted by a stout lady
in quest of just the information he had gained from the guide book. He
courteously answered her questions and found the other sightseers
pressing round to share in his lecture on the Cornford meeting house.
When he had imparted everything he knew and added a few fanciful touches
to improve the story, he turned to look for the Governor.
"If you want to see the cellar, don't tumble down the steps as I did,"
called a cheery voice from the entry; "it's an abominable hole!"
Being an abominable hole the visitors laughingly surged toward the door
to explore it, and the Governor struck matches to light their descent.
He brushed the dust from his knees and mopped his face until the voices
below receded.
"All safe and sound! Stuck it out through a back window into a lilac
bush, and we'll pick it up at our leisure. You may not have noticed that
this old pile is built up against an abandoned mill. We shall loiter
back to the inn carrying the loot quite boldly with us. You might lug it
yourself as I'm a little warm from digging the thing up--Leary had
burrowed under the wood bin and hidden it for keeps."
To be sauntering in broad daylight through the principal thoroughfare of
a serene New England town carrying a suitcase filled with stolen money
was still another experience that made Archie feel that he had indeed
entered upon a new manner of life. The Governor with a spray of lilac in
his lapel had never been in better spirits.
"That's a very decent suitcase and you can hand it to a bell hop and
bid him fly with it to your room. You were a little short of linen and
made a few purchases--the thing explains itself. Who could challenge us,
Archie! We'd make a plausible front in Buckingham palace."
They followed the suitcase upstairs, where the Governor unlocked it
with an implement that looked like a nut pick. Archie's last vestige of
doubt as to the Governor's powers vanished when he saw that the bag was
filled with packages of bank notes in small denominations.
"One might object to so many of the little fellows," remarked the
Governor, "but on the whole we have no reason to complain of Leary's
work. The rascal is anxious to settle down in some strictly moral
community and open a confectionery shop--one of these little concerns
where the neighborhood children bring in their pennies for sodas and
chewing-gum, with a line of late magazine
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