"I know not that. He hates Sir Richard. Methinks he loved not his
own brother, the good knight's father. He was in the house what
time the treasure vanished. Might he not have had some hand in the
mystery?"

The girl shook her head again doubtfully.

"Nay, how can I say? Yet methinks our father, who sorely laments
his poverty and dependence for a home upon Sir Richard's kindness,
would no longer live at the old Gate House had he riches hidden
away upon which he might lay his hand. Nay, Cuthbert, methinks thou
art not on the right track in thinking of him. But I do not rightly
know the story of that lost treasure."

"Marry, nor I neither. I have heard our father rave of it. I have
heard a word here, a whisper there, but never a full account of the
matter. But that there is some great treasure lost or made away
with all men who know aught of the Trevlyns know well. And if, as
all affirm, this same treasure is but buried in some hiding place,
the clue to which none possesses, why should not I find it? Why
should not I be the man at last to track and to discover it?"

Why not indeed? Petronella, full of ardent youthful imaginings,
fired instantly with the thought. Why should not her brother do
this thing? Why not indeed? She looked at him with eyes that shone
in the gloom like stars.

"Yes, Cuthbert, be it thine to do what none else has been able. Be
it thine to discover this lost treasure. Would that I could help
thee in that quest! But I can give thee just this one morsel of