The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-09-15
CHAPTER NXNII.
Continued.

| and q sudden dimneSS Of sight pre-
vented me from properly examining
| the letter. Without doubt my dear
| father was dead, and my one remain
| ing wish could never be realized upon
| earth. I handed the letter to my wife.
who stood at my side, her little hand
affectionately laid upon my shoulder,
! and motioned to her to read 1t, which
she at once proceeded to do; and she
had not read many words before our
mutual fears vanished like a mist in
presence Of the morning sun.
Holdenhurst Hall.
Bury st. Edmund's, April %. 1S-.
| NV Dear Boy-Come home. 1 shall
know no rest until 1 see you here.
and learn from your own lips that
you are willing to forgive my errors
! of Judgment. Consideration of the
strange circumstances in which those
errors were made, if not Of the fact
i, that you are my son whose welfare
have never ceased to desire. should
| induce you to afford me this gratiti-
| cation.
The treasure for which you so indus
, triously sought in face Of SO much
! diScoura~ cement has been accidentally
discovered by your grandfather. minus
, only the three sequins you used to
carry in your pocket: and not only
/ This. but also a quantity of peculiar
Turkish jewelry and precious stones of
great value. Your grandfather and l
have together carefully examined the
whole of the vast treasure and have
, placed it in safe keeping. secure from
further accident, to await your return;
| Tor l have determined that if you will
but come home to me. the disposal
of the treasure shall rest entirely with
you. You deserve 1t, and l declare it
TO be yours. and yours only, subject to
the one condition, of your coming to
Holdenhurst to take possession Of it.
Some time ago your grandfather pro-
posed that the old gabled granary at
the back Of the stables should be
pulled down, and a more commodious
granary built in another place. 1
agreed to the proposal, and last week
the work Of demolition was begun. at
the north end Of the loft, separated
by a wooden partition from where the
winte: fodder has usually been stored.
the treasure was discovered. That it
was stolen from the crypt and secreted
in the granary by Adams there can
be no doubt, for the Venetian coins
were in the black chests which you
found empty in the crypt one memor-
able night. Believing. as 1 then did,
that the treasure had been quite other
wise abstracted, 1 ordered Adams TO
remove the empty chests from the
crypt and use them for firewood, but
instead Of obeying me, he appears TO
have conveyed them to his hiding
place in the granary, and refilled them
with the coins. which he must have
taken from them not long before. 1t
is not unreasonable to suppose that
the man with the lamp whom you
saw in the crypt was Adams, and that
the occasion was his visit for removing
therefrom the last of the coins.
Amongst our discoveries in the gran
ary is leather bag containing six
hundred pounds odd in modern Eng
lish money, which am unable to ac-
count for except by supposing that
1t represents the lifelong savings Of
the extraordinary miser who was my
servant.
l address this letter to your uncle'S
house. not knowing certainly that it
will find You there. Let me beg of
you to take the first opportunity to
acquaint my brother with the discov-
cry of the sequins. If you can con-
veniently do so perhaps you had bet
ter show him this letter. And in any
case be sure to impress upon him my
very great regret for what transpired
when he was last here, and what hap
piness it would be for me If that in
cident could be buried in oblivion.
Your grandfather, who on the very
day of his daughters rash act re-
ceived from her a long letter taking
upon herself great part Of the blame
Of her past life. and entire response
bility for her tragic death, has no
longer any cause for contention with
your uncle, who. were he to come here,
would be received with unrestrained
friendship. Each member of our
small family has been wonged by
some other member; no one of US
stands blameless-not even yourself.
Shall recrimination end only with our
lives? Is it presumptuous to hope for
peace. or must existing divisions be
permitted to widen with the lapse Of
years? o Ernest, my boy, if only
you could bring about the termination
of feuds for which all concerned are
the worse. and no one the better, you
would then have found greater
treasure than that which awaits you
at HoldenhurSt.