s worth a king's ransom--or so I have heard. Great pity that
they should be lost, since my Lady there would own them otherwise, and
much should I have liked, who am a little man in that trade, to set my
old eyes upon them. Well, well, perhaps I shall, perhaps I shall yet,
for that which is lost is sometimes found again. Now here comes your
dinner; eat, eat, we'll talk afterwards."

This was the first of many pleasant meals which they shared with their
host, Jacob Smith. Soon Emlyn found from inquiries that she made among
his neighbours without seeming to do so, that this cousin of hers bore
an excellent name and was trusted by all.

"Then why should we not trust him also?" asked Cicely, "who must find
friends and put faith in some one."

"Even with the jewels, Mistress?"

"Even with the jewels, for such things are his business, and they would
be safer in his strong chest than tacked into our garments, where the
thought of them haunts me night and day."

"Let us wait a while," said Emlyn, "for once they were in that box how
do we know if we should get them out again?"

On the morrow of this talk the Visitor Legh came to see them, and had no
cheerful tale to tell. According to him the Lord Cromwell declared
that as the Abbot of Blossholme claimed these Shefton estates, the
King stood, or would soon stand, in the shoes of the said Abbot of
Blossholme, and therefore the King claimed them and could not surrender
them. Moreover, money was so wanted at Court just then, and here
Legh looked hard at them, "that there could be no talk of parting with
anything of value except in return for a consideration," and he looked
at them harder still.

"And how can my Lady give that," broke in Emlyn sharply, for she feared
lest Cicely should commit herself. "To-day she is but a homeless pauper,
save for a few pounds in gold, and even if she should come to her
own again, as your Worship knows, her first year's profits are all
promised."

"Ah!" said the Doctor sadly, "doubtless the case is hard. Only," he
added, with cunning emphasis, "a tale has just reached me that the
Lady Harflete has wealth hidden away which came to her from her mother;
trinkets of value and such things."

Now Cicely coloured, for the man's little eyes pierced her like
gintlets, and her powers of deceit were very small. But this was not so
with Emlyn, who, as she said, could play thief to catch a thief.

"Listen, Sir," she said, with a secret air, "you have