Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/59

Rh had been carried off to drink champagne by a group of admirers. Dick and Maria-Teresa, left alone, exchanged looks. A moment later, they were brought to earth again by the advent of a horde of excited scientists.

"But what will your father say when he finds out who really sent the bracelet?"

"He will forgive you. I only made you tell the story to reassure him... . Between you and me, those old tales told by Aunt Agnes and Irene were worrying him a little.... He is rather a child in some ways."

Carriages and motors were rapidly filling with people starting for the excavations outside the town, and then on by rail to Ancon, where Uncle Francis was to be shown the latest Inca discoveries. The Marquis and Mr. Montgomery passed them in one motor. Maria-Teresa waved to them, and walked on towards the town with Dick.

They were all to meet again that evening to dine and pass the night at the Marquis' sea-side villa between Lima and Ancon. Uncle Francis would thus be able to begin his researches the very next morning, for Don Christobal's villa, itself a treasure-house of antiques, stood in the very center of the excavations.

Meanwhile, the young people, less interested