as thought, have been concealed in some secret
chamber in the walls. But it was all of no use, and Colonel Playfair
found that in letting his temper get the better of him and shooting
Sir James, he had done away with the only chance of finding it that he
was ever likely to have, for to all appearance the secret had died
with its owner. There was a great deal of noise about it at the time,
and the Colonel was degraded from his rank in reward for what he had
done. It was presumed that old Sir James must have had accomplices in
the hiding of so great a mass of gold, and every means was taken, by
way of threats and promises of reward--which at last grew to half of
the total amount that should be discovered--to induce these to come
forward if they existed, but without result. And so the matter went
on, till after a few years the quest died away and was forgotten.

"Meanwhile the son, Sir Edward, who was the second and last baronet,
led a wandering life abroad, fearing or not caring to return to
England now that all his property had been seized. When he was two-
and-twenty years of age, however, he contracted an imprudent marriage
with his cousin, a lady of the name of Ida Dofferleigh, a girl of good
blood and great beauty, but without means. Indeed, she was the sister
of Geoffrey Dofferleigh, who was a first cousin and companion in exile
of Sir Edward's, and as you will presently see, my lineal ancestor.
Well, within a year of this marriage, poor Ida, my namesake, died with
her baby of fever, chiefly brought on, they say, by want and anxiety
of mind, and the shock seems to have turned her husband's brain. At
any rate, within three or four months of her death, he committed
suicide. But before he did so, he formally executed a rather elaborate
will, by which he left all his estates in England, 'now unjustly
withheld from me contrary to the law and natural right by the rebel
pretender Cromwell, together with the treasure hidden thereon or
elsewhere by my late murdered father, Sir James de la Molle,' to John
Geoffrey Dofferleigh, his cousin, and the brother of his late wife,
and his heirs for ever, on condition only of his assuming the name and
arms of the de la Molle family, the direct line of which became
extinct with himself. Of course, this will, when it was executed, was
to all appearance so much waste paper, but within three years from
that date Charles II. was King of England.

"Thereon Geoffrey Dofferleigh produced the