The iron chest was now to be examined.  When Philip first opened it, he imagined that it contained but little; for it was large and deep, and appeared to be almost empty; but when he put his hands down to the bottom, he pulled out thirty or forty small bags, the contents of which, instead of being silver guilders, were all coins of gold; there was only one large bag of silver money.  But this was not all:  several small boxes and packets were also discovered, which, when opened, were found to contain diamonds and other precious stones.  When everything was collected, the treasure appeared to be of great value.

“Amine, my love, you have indeed brought me an unexpected dower,” said Philip.

“You may well say unexpected” replied Amine.  “These diamonds and jewels my father must have brought with him from Egypt.  And yet how penuriously we were living until we came to this cottage!  And with all this treasure he would have poisoned my Philip for more!  God forgive him!”

Having counted the gold, which amounted to nearly fifty thousand guilders, the whole was replaced, and they left the room.

“I am a rich man,” thought Philip, after Amine had left him; “but of what use are riches to me?  I might purchase a ship and be my own captain, but would not the ship be lost?  That certainly does not follow; but the chances are against the vessel; therefore I will have no ship.  But is it right to sail in the vessels of others with this feeling?—­I know not; this, however, I know, that I have a duty to perform, and that all our lives are in the hands of a kind Providence, which calls us away when he thinks fit.  I will place most of my money in the shares of the Company, and if I sail in their vessels, and they come to misfortune by meeting with my poor father, at least I shall be a common sufferer with the rest.  And now to make my Amine more comfortable.”

Philip immediately made a great alteration in their style of living.  Two female servants were hired:  the rooms were more comfortably furnished; and in everything in which his wife’s comfort and convenience were concerned, he spared no expense.  He wrote to Amsterdam and purchased several shares in the Company’s stock.  The diamonds and his own money he still left in the hands of Amine.  In making these arrangements the two months passed rapidly away, and everything was complete when Philip again received his summons, by letter, to desire that he would join his vessel.  Amine would have wished Philip to go out as a passenger instead of going as an officer, but Philip preferred the latter, as otherwise he could give no reason for his voyage to India.

“I know not why,” observed Philip, the evening before his departure, “but I do not feel as I did when I last went away; I have no foreboding of evil this time.”

“Nor have I,” replied Amine; “but I feel as if you would be long away from me, Philip; and is not that an evil to a fond and anxious wife?”