Page:Braddon--The Trail of the Serpent.djvu/281

Rh was bad that year, and the Board of Health came a-chivying of us to take up our floorings, and lime-wash ourselves inside; and in taking up the flooring of this room what should we come across but that very bit of gold?"

"And you never changed it?"

"Shall I tell you why I never changed it? Sovereigns ain't so plentiful in these parts that I should keep this one to look at. What do you say to it's not being a sovereign at all?"

"Not a sovereign?"

"Not; what do you say to it's being a twopenny-halfpenny foreign coin, with a lot of rum writin' about it—a coin as they has the cheek to offer me four-and-sixpence for as old gold, and as I kep', knowin' it was worth more for a curiosity—eh?"

"Why, all I can say is," said Gus, "that you did very wisely to keep it; and here's five or perhaps ten times its value, and plenty of interest for your money."

"Wait a bit," muttered the landlord; and disappearing into the bar, he rummaged in some drawer in the interior of that sanctum, and presently reappeared with a little parcel screwed carefully in newspaper. "Here it is," he said, "and jolly glad I am to get rid of the useless lumber, as wouldn't buy a loaf of bread if one was a starving; and thank you kindly, sir," he continued, as he pocketed the note. "I should like to sell you half-a-dozen more of 'em at the same price, that's all."

The coin was East Indian; worth perhaps six or seven rupees; in size and touch not at all unlike a sovereign, but about fifty years old.

"And now," said Gus, "my friend and I will take a stroll; you can cook us a steak for five o'clock, and in the meantime we can amuse ourselves about the town."

"The factories might be interesting to the foreigneering gent," said the landlord, whose spirits seemed very much improved by the possession of the five-pound note; "there's a factory hard by as employs a power of hands, and there's a wheel as killed a man only last week, and you could see it, I'm sure, gents, and welcome, by only mentioning my name. I serves the hands as lives round this way, which is a many."

Gus thanked him for his kind offer, and said they would make a point of availing themselves of it.

The landlord watched them as they walked along the bank in the direction of Slopperton. "I expect," he remarked to himself, "the lively one's mad, and the quiet one's his keeper. But five pounds is five pounds; and that's neither here nor there."

Instead of seeking both amusement and instruction, as they might have done from a careful investigation of the factory in question, Messrs. Darley and Peters walked at a pretty brisk rate, looking neither to the right nor to the left, choosing the