pride and passion.All at once he smiled again, the same deadly, dreadful smile which heimagined to be the expression of frankness.
"I see I am punished! 'Twas I that first spoke of stealing. Senor, youhave shown me that I was wrong. My pardon to that so good lady who isguest of my house; and also to that other patriotic one who so adornsit. Now let me say, since to defend myself is thrust upon me, that you,who have, with so much skill made clear the hidden mystery of that lawbook which I have only lately read, know best of all men how I am boundto do all things to protect my trust. I am bound, despite myself, evenif it were not a duty gladly undertaken for the sake of the dead. It wasnot I who so undertook; but still I am bound even more than he who did.I stand between law and honour, between life and death, helpless. Senor,were you in my place, would you not, too, have acted as I did? Would younot do so, knowing that there was a secret which you could not even tryto unravel, since long ago that in which it was hidden had been stolenor lost. Would you not do so, knowing, too, that some other--in all goodfaith and innocence let us say--had already made discovery which mightmock your hopes and nullify the force of that long vigil, to which tengenerations of men, giving up all else, had sacrificed themselves? Wouldnot you, too, have come in secret and made what discovery you could.Discovery of your own, mark you! Would not also that lady so patriotic,to whom all things come after that devotion to her country, which sogreat she holds?"
Whilst he was speaking I had been thinking. The pretence of ignorancewas all over to both of us; he knew our knowledge of the secret trust,and we knew that he knew. The only thing of which he was yet ignorant,was that we had discovered the treasure itself. There was nothing tobe gained by disputing points of conjectural morals. Of course he wasright; had either Marjory or myself considered ourselves bound by such aduty as lay so heavy on him we should have done the same. I bowed as Ianswered;
"Sir, you are right! Any man who held to such a duty would have done thesame."
"Senor," he answered quickly, "I thank you with all my heart!" Poorfellow, at that moment I pitied him. The sudden flash of joy that leapedto his face showed by reaction in what a hell he must have of latebeen living. This momentary episode seemed to have wiped away all hisbitterness; it was in quite a different way that he spoke again:
"And now, Senor, since your engaging frankness has made my heart soglad, may I ask further of your kindness. Believe me that it is not ofmy own will, but from an unbending sense of duty that I do and may haveto do such things; my life till lately has been otherwise, oh! so muchso! You have the feelings of honour yourself; like me you are also manof the world, and as such we can sacrifice all things save honour. Isthere no way in which you can aid me to fulfill my trust; and let therebe peace between us?" He looked at me anxiously; I said:
"I fear I hardly understand?" With manifest embarrassment he went on;
"You will forgive me if I err again; but this time I must make myselfclear. It is manifest to me that in these days of science nothing canlong remain hidden, when once a clue has been found. You already knowso much that I am placed almost as though the treasure has alreadybeen found. Thereafter where am I; what am I? One who has failed inhis trust. Who has allowed another to step in; and so dishonour him! Amoment, Senor, and I am done," for he saw that I was about to speak. "Itis not the treasure itself that I value, but the trust. If I could makeit safe by the sacrifice of all my possessions I would gladly do so.Senor, you are still free. You have but to abandon your quest. It is notto you a duty; and therefore you sacrifice naught of honour should youabandon it. Here I pledge to you--and, oh Senor, I pray have patiencethat you take no affront that I do so--that in such case I shall give toyou all that I have. Give it gladly! So, I may redeem the trust of myHouse; and go out into the wide world, though it may be as a beggar, yetfree--free! Oh! pause, Senor, and think. I am rich in the world's goods.My ancestors were of vast wealth; even at that time when the greatBernardino did give his ship to his king. And for three centuries allhave been prudent; and all their possessions have grown. There are vastlands of corn, great forests, many castles, whole ranges of mountainsas yet untouched for their varied treasures which are vast. There areseaports and villages; and in all, the dwellers are happy and content. Iam the last of my race. There is none to inherit; so I am free to pledgemyself." He did not bow or bend; there was no persistence of request inhis voice, or tone, or manner. In all there was no feeling of a bargain.It was an offer, based on the fulfillment of his own desires; given insuch a lordly way that there could be no offence in it. He recognised sothoroughly the strength of my own position, that the base side of barterbecame obliterated; it was an exchange of goods between gentlemen. Such,at least, I recognised was his intellectual position; my own remainedthe same. How could I, or any man, take advantage of such an offer.After thinking a few seconds I said to him:
"Sir, you have honoured me by grouping us as men of honour. What wouldyou do in my place?" His eye brightened, and his breath came morequickly as he replied:
"Were it my case, I should say: 'Senor, your duty is one of honour; mineis one of gain. There can be no comparisons. Fulfill your debt to yourforefathers! Redeem the pledge that they have made in your name!Discover your treasure; and be free!'" There was infinite pride in hisvoice and manner; I think he really meant what he said. I went on withmy questioning:
"And what about the taking of your estate as a reward of forbearance?"
He shrugged his shoulders: "For that," he said, "it matters not."
"Ah, for you to give you mean?" He nodded.
"But what for me to take? Would you do so in my place?" He wasmanifestly in a dilemma. I could see something of the working ofhis mind in his face. If he said he would himself take it, he wouldmanifestly lower himself in his own eyes; and to such pride as his, hisown self-respect was more than the respect of others, in proportion tohis self-value. If he said he would not, then he might peril his chanceof getting what he desired. The temptation was a cruel one; with allmy heart I honoured him for his answer, given with the fullness of hismighty pride:
"Senor, I can die; I cannot stoop! But what avails my own idea? Theanswer is not for me! I have offered all I have. I will in additionpledge myself to hold my life at your service when this great trust isrelieved. To this my honour is guardian; you need not fear it shall beredeemed! Now Senor, you have my answer! To redeem the trust of my siresI give all I have in the world, except my honour! The answer rests withyou!"
CHAPTER XLI
TREASURE TROVE
There was no doubt that the Spaniard's devotion to his cause placed mein a considerable difficulty. I could not disguise from myself that heput forward a very strong claim for the consideration of one gentlemanby another. It was only on hurriedly thinking the matter over that theweakness of his cause was apparent. Had the whole affair been a privateor personal one; had the treasure belonged to his ancestors, I shouldhave found it in my own heart a very difficult matter to gainsay him,and be subsequently at ease with myself. I remembered, however, thatthe matter was a public one. The treasure was collected by enemies ofEngland for the purpose of destroying England's liberty, and so theliberty of the whole human race for which it made. It was sent in chargeof a personal enemy of the country in a ship of war, one of many builtfor the purpose of invading and conquering England. In time of nationalstress, when the guns were actually thundering along our coast from theThames to the Tyne, the treasure had been hidden so as to preserve itfor future use in its destined way. Though centuries had passed, it wasstill held in mind; and the very men who had guarded it were, whilstprofessing to be Britons, secret enemies of the country, and devoted toher ultimate undoing. Beyond this again, there was another reason fornot giving it up which appealed to me more strongly than the claim ofmy own natural duty, because it came to me through Marjory. Though Spainwas at peace with my country, it was at war with hers; the treasurecollected to harm England might--nay, would--be used to harm America.Spain was impoverished to the last degree. Her treasuries were empty,her unpaid soldiers clamourous for their arrears. Owing to want at home,there was in places something like anarchy; abroad there was such lackof all things, ships, men, stores, cannon, ammunition, that the evilof want came across the seas to the statesmen of the Quirinal withheart-breaking persistence. America, unprepared for war at first, wasday by day becoming better equipped. The panic had abated which had setin on the seaboard towns from Maine to California, when each founditself at the mercy of a Spanish fleet sweeping the seas, no man knewwhere. Now if ever, money would be of value to impoverished Spain. Thisgreat treasure, piled up by the Latin for the conquering of theAnglo-Saxon, and rescued from its burial of three centuries, would comein the nick of time to fulfill its racial mission; though that missionmight be against a new branch of the ancient foe of Spain, whose rootsonly had been laid when the great Armada swept out in all its pride andglory on its conquering essay. I needed no angel to tell me what wouldbe Marjory's answer, were such a proposition made to her. I could seein my mind's eye the uprearing of her tall figure in all its pride andbeauty, the flashing of her eyes with that light of patriotic fire whichI knew so well, the set of her mouth, the widening of her nostril, thewrinkling of her ivory forehead as the brows were raised in scorn----
"Sir," said I with what dignity I had, "the matter is not for you or meto decide. Not for us both! This is an affair of two nations, or ratherof three: The Papacy, the Spaniard, the Briton. Nay, it touches anotheralso, for the lady who shares the secret with me represents the countrywith which your nation is at war!" The Spaniard was manifestly baffled;the red, hellish light shone in his eyes again. His anger foundexpression in a sneer:
"Ah! so I suppose you do not propose to deal with the treasure, whenfound, as a private matter; but shall hand it over to your governmentto deal with!" The best answer to his scorn was complacency; so I saidquietly:
"There again we are in a difficulty. You see, my dear fellow, no oneexactly knows how we stand in this matter. The law of Treasure Trove,as we call it in this country, is in a most chaotic state. I have beenlooking it up since I undertook this quest; and I am rather surprisedthat in all the years that have elapsed since our practical law-makingbegan, nothing has been done to put such matters on an exact basis. Thelaw, such as it is, seems to rest on Royal Prerogative; but what thebase of that prerogative is, no one seems exactly to know. And besides,in the various constitutional changes, and the customs of differentdynasties, there are, or certainly there may be, barriers to theassertion of any Crown right--certainly to the fulfillment of such!" Heseemed staggered. He had manifestly never regarded the matter as otherthan the recovery of property entrusted to him through his ancestors. Itook advantage of his mental disturbance; and as I myself wanted time tothink, so that I might fix on some course of action which would suitMarjory's wishes as well as my own, I began to tell him the impressionleft on my mind by such study of the subject of Treasure Trove as I hadbeen able to achieve. I quoted now and again from notes made in mypocket book.
"The Scotch law is much the same as the English; and as we are inScotland, we are of course governed by the former. The great point ofdifference, seen with the eyes of a finder, is that in Scotland thefraudulent concealment of Treasure Trove is not a criminal offence, asit is in England. Thus, from my point of view, I have nothing to fearas to results; for though by the General Police Act the finder is boundto report the find to the Chief Constable, the statute only applies tothings found on roads or in public places. So far as this treasure isconcerned, it may turn out that it can, in a sense, be no treasure troveat all."--
"According to Blackstone, treasure trove is where any money or coin,gold, silver, plate or bullion is found hidden _in_ the earth or otherprivate place, the owner thereof being unknown. If found _upon_ theearth, or in the sea, it belongs, not to the Crown, but to the finder,if no owner appears. It is the hiding, not the abandoning, which givesthe Crown the property."--
"Coin or bullion found at the bottom of a lake or in the bed of a riveris not treasure trove. It is not hidden in the earth."--
"The right of the Crown is ... limited to gold or silver, bullion orcoin. It extends to nothing else."...
When I had got thus far the Spaniard interrupted me:
"But sir, in all these that you say, the rights of the owner seem to berecognised even in your law."
"Ah, but there comes in again a fresh difficulty; or rather a freshseries of difficulties, beginning with what is, in the eye of thelaw, the 'owner.' Let us for a moment take your case. You claim thistreasure--if it can be found--as held by you for the original possessor.The original possessor was, I take it, the Pope, who sent it with theArmada, to be used for the conversion or subduing of England. We willtake the purpose later, but in the meantime we are agreed that theoriginal owner was Pope Sixtus V. Now, the Popedom is an office, and onthe death of one incumbent his successor takes over all his rights andpowers and privileges whatever they may be. Thus, the Pope of to-daystands in exactly the same position as did Pope Sixtus V, when he sentthrough King Philip, and in trust of Bernardino de Escoban the aforesaidtreasure." I felt that the words 'aforesaid treasure' sounded verylegal; it helped to consolidate even my own ideas as I went along. "So,too, you as the representative of your own family, are in the sameposition of original trustee as was your great ancestor of which thisrecord takes cognisance." This too was convincingly legal in sound. "Ido not think that British law would recognise your position, or thatof your predecessors in the trust, in the same way as it would thecontinuation of the ownership, if any, on the part of the succession ofthe Popes. However, for the sake of the argument, let us take it theywould be of equal force. If this be so, the claim of ownership andguardianship would be complete." As I paused, the Spaniard who had beenlistening to me with pent up breath, breathed more freely. With agraceful movement, which was almost a bow, he said:
"If so that you recognise the continued ownership, and if you speakas the exponent of the British law, wherein then is the difficulty ofownership at all; should it be that the treasure may be found?" Here wasthe real difficulty of both my own argument and Don Bernardino's. Formy own part, I had not the faintest idea of what the law might be; butI could see easily enough that great issues might be raised for theBritish side against the Spanish. As I had to 'bluff' my opponent to acertain extent, I added the impressions of personal conviction to mymanner as I answered:
"Have you considered what you, or rather your pr