Valentine Williams

“ But when consciousness returned, I awoke to a dark world which even the leather trunk locked away in Bard's strong-room could not illumine.
It was weeks before I could travel to New York, where I placed the treasure in the hands of a firm of antiquaries. They advised that it should come on the market only gradually, piece by piece, in order not to depreciate its value. I do not, therefore, know even now exactly how much it will realize; but from what they tell me I am quite justified in regarding myself as a comparatively wealthy man. Bard will not touch a cent of the treasure. ”

“ When will you marry me?
Desmond But no reply came. All through the feverish days of my illness, a shadowy cable addressed to me flitted through my tortured mind. Sometimes, when I was light-headed, as Bard told me after wards, I would fancy that Marjorie had replied, that Akawa was handing me the message.... ”

“ With the aid of the pick we prized the stone up. A slot had obviously been cut for it in the rock. A shallow opening was revealed and at the bottom stood a black box.
It was of black leather, discoloured, but apparently in good condition, the corners bound with some dull metal which I took to be brass. It was about four feet long with a rounded lid studded with nails. Bard lifted up one of the lanterns whilst I, lying on my face, dropped an arm into the hole. My fingers closed on a handle at the side of the box. I heaved. The box was immensely heavy and I found that I could barely lift it. ”