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One would think you would be just as well pleased if that Beezel the rival walked off with this place. You aren't even trying to fight!" "Listen, Ricky, how can we fight when we have nothing solid to fight with? LeFleur is doing all he can, we have explored every possibility here " "Val, don't you want to stay here?" she interrupted him. He looked around at stone and wood. Did he really want to?
Then the Boss took a hand in the game. "The boy's a minor," he observed. "Through me," LeFleur returned, "Mr. Rupert Ralestone as nearest of kin has applied for guardianship and there will be no difficulty in the settlement of that matter." "Yeah!" The rival threw his gloves on the terrace and glared not at LeFleur but at his own backing.
"If you are going to take all of this in to LeFleur, you'll have to get a truck. D'you know, I think this place might turn out to be a gold-mine if one knew just where to dig." "We haven't found the Luck yet," reminded Ricky. Val got clumsily to his feet and then gave Charity a hand up, beating Rupert to it by about three seconds.
As for you," he turned upon LeFleur, "there is no use in your entertaining any foolish idea of calling the police. For our invasion today we have a court order; unhappily it is no longer of use. But we did come here in good faith, as we are prepared to prove.
To their joint surprise, LeFleur pounced upon it and withdrew to the window of the room into which he had conducted them. There he spread out the four sheets of yellowed paper which the envelope had contained. "What were we carrying?" whispered Ricky. "Part of Rupert's deep, dark secret?"
"Not by well-known painters, but they're historically interesting. There's one of the first Lady Richanda, and one of the missing Rick. That's the best of the lot, according to LeFleur. I saw a photograph of it once. Come to think about it, Val looks a lot like the boy in the picture. He might have sat for it." They all turned to eye Val. He arose and bowed.
"Very well." He dropped it back into its bag. "We'll send it to LeFleur for safe-keeping. Any scruples about the rest of this stuff?" "Of course not! And none of it is worth much. May I keep it?" "If you wish. Now let's see what is in here." He drew the second box toward him and forced it open. "Money!" Charity was staring at it with wide eyes.
From the balcony, running along the ell, onto which each room opened, one could look down into the courtyard. It was on this balcony that the lawyer met them with outstretched hands after they had given their names to his dark, languid young clerk. "But this is good of you!" René LeFleur beamed on them impartially.
"Let me tell it," he begged, "I've been waiting for a chance like this for years." Ricky was obediently silent, thinking that he wished to break the mystery of the author. But Jeems and LeFleur understood that it was to them Val appealed. "Val, what are you doing out of bed?" was Rupert's first question. "Saving the old homestead while you went joy-riding. We had visitors this afternoon."
"What do you think of our family retainer?" "Seems a good chap." "LeFleur says one of the best. Possesses a spark of ambition and is really trying to make a go of the farm, which is more than most of them do around here. His wife, by all accounts, is a wonder. Used to be the cook-housekeeper here when the Rafaels had the place. LeFleur still talks about the two meals he ate here then.
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