At the sound of my foot-fall she sprang to her feet,
however, and a bright flush of surprise and of pleasure colored
her pale cheeks.
"I heard a cab drive up," she said. "I thought that Mrs.
Forrester had come back very early, but I never dreamed that it
might be you. What news have you brought me?"
"I have brought something better than news," said I, putting down
the box upon the table and speaking jovially and boisterously,
though my heart was heavy within me. "I have brought you
something which is worth all the news in the world. I have
brought you a fortune."
She glanced at iron box. "Is that the treasure, then?" she
asked, coolly enough.
"Yes, this is the great Agra treasure. Half of it is yours and
half is Thaddeus Sholto's. You will have a couple of hundred
thousand each. Think of that! An annuity of ten thousand
pounds. There will be few richer young ladies in England. Is it
not glorious?"
I think that I must have been rather overacting my delight, and
that she detected a hollow ring in my congratulations, for I saw
her eyebrows rise a little, and she glanced at me curiously.
"If I have it," said she, "I owe it to you."
"No, no," I answered, "not to me, but to my friend Sherlock
Holmes.
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