“Meanwhile the son, Sir Edward, who was the second and last baronet, led a wandering life abroad, fearing or not caring to return to England now that all his property had been seized.  When he was two-and-twenty years of age, however, he contracted an imprudent marriage with his cousin, a lady of the name of Ida Dofferleigh, a girl of good blood and great beauty, but without means.  Indeed, she was the sister of Geoffrey Dofferleigh, who was a first cousin and companion in exile of Sir Edward’s, and as you will presently see, my lineal ancestor.  Well, within a year of this marriage, poor Ida, my namesake, died with her baby of fever, chiefly brought on, they say, by want and anxiety of mind, and the shock seems to have turned her husband’s brain.  At any rate, within three or four months of her death, he committed suicide.  But before he did so, he formally executed a rather elaborate will, by which he left all his estates in England, ’now unjustly withheld from me contrary to the law and natural right by the rebel pretender Cromwell, together with the treasure hidden thereon or elsewhere by my late murdered father, Sir James de la Molle,’ to John Geoffrey Dofferleigh, his cousin, and the brother of his late wife, and his heirs for ever, on condition only of his assuming the name and arms of the de la Molle family, the direct line of which became extinct with himself.  Of course, this will, when it was executed, was to all appearance so much waste paper, but within three years from that date Charles II. was King of England.

“Thereon Geoffrey Dofferleigh produced the document, and on assuming the name and arms of de la Molle actually succeeded in obtaining the remains of the Castle and a considerable portion of the landed property, though the baronetcy became extinct.  His son it was who built this present house, and he is our direct ancestor, for though my father talks of them as though they were—­it is a little weakness of his—­the old de la Molles are not our direct male ancestors.”

“Well,” said Harold, “and did Dofferleigh find the treasure?”

“No, ah, no, nor anybody else; the treasure has vanished.  He hunted for it a great deal, and he did find those pieces of plate which you saw to-night, hidden away somewhere, I don’t know where, but there was nothing else with them.”

“Perhaps the whole thing was nonsense,” said Harold reflectively.

“No,” answered Ida shaking her head, “I am sure it was not, I am sure the treasure is hidden away somewhere to this day.  Listen, Colonel Quaritch—­you have not heard quite all the story yet—­I found something.”

“You, what?”

“Wait a minute and I will show you,” and going to a cabinet in the corner, she unlocked it, and took out a despatch box, which she also unlocked.