way that I guessed he had something important to say, and he drew a long
folded blue paper from his pocket. 'My son,' he said, opening it
leisurely and smoothing it out upon his knee, 'we should never revile
Fortune, and in speaking of Fortune I only use that appellation in our
poor human sense, and do not imply that there is any Chance at all but
what is subject to an over-ruling Providence; we should never, I say,
revile Fortune, for just at that moment when she appears to have deserted
us, she may be only gone away to seek some richest treasure to bring back
with her. And that this is so let what I am about to read to you prove;
so light a candle and set it by me, for my eyes cannot follow the writing
in this dancing firelight.'

I took an end of candle which stood on the mantelpiece and did as he bid
me, and he went on: 'I shall read you this letter which I received near
eight years ago, and of the weightiness of it you shall yourself judge.'

I shall not here set down that letter in full, although I have it by me,
but will put it shortly, because it was from a lawyer, tricked with
long-winded phrases and spun out as such letters are to afford cover
afterwards for a heavier charge. It was addressed to the Reverend Horace
Glennie, Perpetual Curate of Moonfleet, in the County of Dorset, England,
and written in English by Heer Roosten, Attorney and Signariat of the
Hague in the Kingdom of Holland. It set forth that one Krispijn
Aldobrand, jeweller and dealer in precious stones, at the Hague, had sent
for Heer Roosten to draw a will for him. And that the said Krispijn
Aldobrand, being near his end, had deposed to the said Heer Roosten, that
he, Aldobrand, was desirous to leave all his goods to one John Trenchard,
of Moonfleet, Dorset, in the Kingdom of England. And that he was moved
to do this, first, by the consideration that he, Aldobrand, had no
children to whom to leave aught, and second, because he desired to make
full and fitting restitution to John Trenchard, for that he had once
obtained from the said John a diamond without paying the proper price for
it. Which stone he, Aldobrand, had sold and converted into money, and
having so done, found afterwards both his fortune and his health decline;
so that, although he had great riches before he became possessed of the
diamond, these had forthwith melted through unfortunate ventures and
speculations, till he had little remaining to him but the money that this
same diamond had brought.

He therefore left to John Trenchard everything of which he should die
possessed, and being near death begged his forgiveness if he had wronged
him in aught. These were the instructions which Heer Roosten received
from Mr. Aldobrand, whose health sensibly declined, until three months
later he died. It was well, Heer Roosten added, that the will had been
drawn in good time, for as Mr. Aldobrand grew weaker, he became a prey to
delusions, saying that John Trenchard had laid a curse upon the diamond,
and professing even to relate the words of it, namely, that it should
'bring evil in this life, and damnation in that which is to come.' Nor
was this all, for he could get no sleep, but woke up with a horrid dream,
in which, so he informed Heer Roosten, he saw continually a tall man with
a coppery face and black beard draw the bed-curtains and mock him. Thus
he came at length to his end, and after his death Heer Roosten
endeavoured to give effect to the provision of the will, by writing to
John Trenchard, at Moonfleet, Dorset, to apprise him that he was left
sole heir. That address, indeed, was all the indication that Aldobrand
had given, though he constantly promised his attorney to let him have
closer information as to Trenchard's whereabouts, in good time. This
information was, however, always postponed, perhaps because Aldobrand
hoped he might get better and so repent of his repentance. So all Heer
Roosten had to do was to write to Trenchard at Moonfleet, and in due
course the letter was returned to him, with the information that
Trenchard had fled that place to escape the law, and was then nowhere to
be found. After that Heer Roosten was advised to write to the minister of
the parish, and so addressed these lines to Mr. Glennie.

This was the gist of the letter which Mr. Glennie read, and you may
easily guess how such news moved me, and how we sat far into the night
talking and considering what steps it was best to take, for we feared
lest so long an interval as eight years having elapsed, the lawyers might
have made some other disposition of the money. It was midnight when Mr.
Glennie left. The candle had long burnt out, but the fire was bright,
and he knelt a moment by the trestle-table before he went out.

'He made a good end, John,' he said, rising from his knees, 'and I pray
that our end may be in as good cause when it comes. For with the best of
us the hour of death is an awful hour, and we may well pray, as every
Sunday, to be delivered in it. But there is another time which those who
wrote this Litany thought no less perilous, and bade us pray to be
delivered in all time of our wealth. So I pray that if, after all, this
wealth comes to your hand you may be led to use it well; for though I do
not hold with foolish tales, or think a curse hangs on riches themselves,
yet if riches have been set apart for a good purpose, even by evil men,
as Colonel John Mohune set apart this treasure, it cannot be but that we
shall do grievous wrong in putting them to other use. So fare you well,
and remember that there are other treasures besides this, and that a good
woman's love is worth far more than all the gold and jewels of the
world--as I once knew.' And with that he left me.

I guessed that he had spoken with Grace that day, and as I lay dozing in
front of the fire, alone in this old room I knew so well, alone with that
silent friend who had died to save me, I mourned him none the less, but
yet sorrowed not as one without hope.

*       *       *       *       *

What need to tell this tale at any more length, since you may know, by my
telling it, that all went well? for what man would sit down to write a
history that ended in his own discomfiture? All that great wealth came to
my hands, and if I do not say how great it was, 'tis that I may not wake
envy, for it was far more than ever I could have thought. And of that
money I never touched penny piece, having learnt a bitter lesson in the
past, but laid it out in good works, with Mr. Glennie and Grace to help
me. First, we rebuilt and enlarged the almshouses beyond all that Colonel
John Mohune could ever think of, and so established them as to be a haven
for ever for all worn-out sailors of that coast. Next, we sought the
guidance of the Brethren of the Trinity, and built a lighthouse on the
Snout, to be a Channel beacon for sea-going ships, as Maskew's match had
been a light for our fishing-boats in the past. Lastly, we beautified the
church, turning out the cumbrous seats of oak, and neatly pewing it with
deal and baize, that made it most commodious to sit in of the Sabbath.
There was also much old glass which we removed, and reglazed all the
windows tight against the wind, so that what with a high pulpit,
reading-desk, and seat for Master Clerk and new Commandment boards each
side of the Holy Table, there was not a church could vie with ours in the
countryside. But that great vault below it, with its memories, was set in
order, and then safely walled up, and after that nothing was more ever
heard of Blackbeard and his lost Mohunes. And as for the landers, I
cannot say where they went; and if a cargo is still run of a dark night
upon the beach, I know nothing of it, being both Lord of the Manor and
Justice of the Peace.

The village, too, renewed itself with the new almshouses and church.
There were old houses rebuilt and fresh ones reared, and all are ours,
except the Why Not? which still remains the Duchy Inn. And that was let
again, and men left the Choughs at Ringstave and came back to their old
haunt, and any shipwrecked or travel-worn sailor found board and welcome
within its doors.

And of the Mohune Hospital--for that was what the alms-houses were now
called--Master Glennie was first warden, with fair rooms and a full
library, and Master Ratsey head of the Bedesmen. There they spent happier
days, till they were gathered in the fullness of their years; and sleep
on the sunny side of the church, within sound of the sea, by that great
buttress where I once found Master Ratsey listening with his ear to
ground. And close beside them lies Elzevir Block, most faithful and most
loved by me, with a text on his tombstone: 'Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friend,' and some of Mr.
Glennie's verses.

And of ourselves let me speak last. The Manor House is a stately home
again, with trim lawns and terraced balustrades, where we can sit and
see the thin blue smoke hang above the village on summer evenings. And
in the Manor woods my wife and I have seen a little Grace and a little
John and little Elzevir, our firstborn, play; and now our daughter is
grown up, fair to us as the polished corners of the Temple, and our sons
are gone out to serve King George on sea and land. But as for us, for
Grace and me, we never leave this our happy Moonfleet, being well
content to see the dawn tipping the long cliff-line with gold, and the
night walking in dew across the meadows; to watch the spring clothe the
beech boughs with green, or the figs ripen on the southern wall: while
behind all, is spread as a curtain the eternal sea, ever the same and
ever changing. Yet I love to see it best when it is lashed to madness in
the autumn gale, and to hear the grinding roar and churn of the pebbles
like a great organ playing all the night. 'Tis then I turn in bed and
thank God, more from the heart, perhaps, than, any other living man,
that I am not fighting for my life on Moonfleet Beach. And more than
once I have stood rope in hand in that same awful place, and tried to
save a struggling wretch; but never saw one come through the surf alive,
in such a night as he saved me.