You might almost have said that Violet pranced. Aunt Jane was
round-eyed and twittering. Mr. Tubbs wore a look of suppressed
astonishment, almost of perturbation. _What's his game_? was the
question in the sophisticated eye of Mr. Tubbs. But the Scotchman
had when he chose a perfect poker face. The great game of bluff
would have suited him to a nicety. Mr. Tubbs interrogated that
inexpressive countenance in vain.
Miss Browne advanced on Cuthbert Vane and seized both his hands in
an ardent clasp.
"Mr. Vane," she said with solemnity, "I thank you--in the name of
this expedition I thank you--for the influence you have exerted
upon your friend!"
And this seemed to be to the noble youth the most stunning of all
the shocks of that eventful morning.
Now came the matter of drawing up the new agreement. It was a
canny Scot indeed who, acting on the hint I had just given him,
finally settled its terms. In the first place, the previous
agreement was declared null and void. In the second, Mr. Tubbs was
to have his fourth only if the treasure were discovered through his
direct agency. And it was under this condition and no other that
Dugald Shaw bound himself to relinquish his original claim.
Virginia Harding signed a new renunciatory clause, but it bore only
on treasure _discovered by Mr. Tubbs_. Indeed, the entire contract
was of force only if Mr.
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