"Oh, bother the old proverb; thirty or forty thousand pounds is no
trifle to be talked lightly of, or the loss of which to be quietly put
up with, on account of a musty proverb. It's a large sum, and I should
like to have placed it in your hands." "But as you cannot, doctor, there can be no good possibly done by
regretting it." "No, certainly; I don't mean that; utter regret is always a very foolish
thing; but it's questionable whether something might not be done in the
matter, after all, for you, as it appears, by all the evidence we can
collect, that it must have been Varney, after all, who jumped down upon
me from the garden-wall in so sudden a manner: and, if the picture be
valuable to him, it must be valuable to us." "But how are we to get it, and if we could, I do not see that it would
be of much good to anybody, for, after all, it is but a painting." "There you go again," said the doctor, "depreciating what you know
nothing about; now, listen to me, Master Henry, and I will tell you. That picture evidently had some sort of lining at the back, over the
original canvas; and do you think I would have taken such pains to bring
it away with me if that lining had not made me suspect that between it
and the original picture the money, in bank notes, was deposited?" "Had you any special reason for supposing such was the case?" "Yes; most unquestionably I had; for when I got the picture fairly down,
I found various inequalities in the surface of the back, which led me to
believe that rolls of notes were deposited, and that the great mistake
we had all along made was in looking behind the picture, instead of at
the picture itself. I meant immediately to have cut it to pieces when I
reached here with it; but now it has got into the hands of somebody
else, who knows, I suspect, as much I do." "It is rather provoking." "Rather provoking! is that the way to talk of the loss of Heaven knows
how many thousands of pounds! I am quite aggravated myself at the idea
of the thing, and it puts me in a perfect fever to think of it, I can
assure you." "But what can we do?" "Oh! I propose an immediate crusade against Varney, the vampyre, for who
but he could have made such an attack upon me, and force me to deliver
up such a valuable treasure?" "Never heed it, doctor," said Flora; "let it go; we have never had or
enjoyed that money, so it cannot matter, and it is not to be considered
as the loss of an actual possession, because we never did actually
possess it." "Yes," chimed in the admiral; "bother the money! what do we care about
it; and, besides, Charley Holland is going to be very busy." "Busy!" said the doctor, "how do you mean?" "Why, isn't he going to be married directly to Flora, here, and am not I
going to settle the whole of my property upon him on condition that he
takes the name of Bell instead of Holland? for, you see, his mother was
my sister, and of course her name was Bell. As for his father Holland,
it can't matter to him now what Charley is called; and if he don't take
the name of Bell I shall be the last in the family, for I am not likely
to marry, and have any little Bells about me." "No," said the doctor; "I should say not; and that's the reason why you
want to ring the changes upon Charles Holland's name. Do you see the
joke, admiral?" "I can't say I do--where is it? It's all very well to talk of jokes, but
if I was like Charles, going to be married, I shouldn't be in any joking
humour, I can tell you, but quite the reverse; and as for you and your
picture, if you want it, doctor, just run after Varney yourself for it;
or, stay--I have a better idea than that--get your wife to go and ask
him for it, and if she makes half such a clamour about his ears that she
did about ours, he will give it her in a minute, to get rid of her." "My wife!--you don't mean to say she has been here?" "Yes, but she has though. And now, doctor, I can tell you I have seen a
good deal of service in all parts of the world, and, of course, picked
up a little experience; and, if I were you, some of these days, when
Mrs. Chillingworth ain't very well, I'd give her a composing draught
that would make her quiet enough." "Ah! that's not my style of practice, admiral; but I am sorry to hear
that Mrs. Chillingworth has annoyed you so much." "Pho, pho, man!--pho, pho! do you think she could annoy me? Why, I have
encountered storms and squalls in all latitudes, and it isn't a woman's
tongue now that can do anything of an annoying character, I can tell
you; far from it--very far from it; so don't distress yourself upon that
head. But come, doctor, we are going to have the wedding the day after
to-morrow." "No, no," said Flora; "the week after next, you mean,"

"Is it the week after next? I'll be hanged if I didn't think it was the
day after to-morrow; but of course you know best, as you have settled it
all among you. I have nothing to do with it." "Of course, I shall, with great pleasure," returned the doctor, "be
present on the interesting occasion; but do you intend taking possession
of Bannerworth Hall again?" "No, certainly not," said Henry; "we propose going to the Dearbrook
estate, and there remaining for a time to see how we all like it. We
may, perchance, enjoy it very much, for I have heard it spoken of as an
attractive little property enough, and one that any one might fancy,
after being resident a short time upon it." "Well," said the admiral; "that is, I believe, settled among us, but I
am sure we sha'n't like it, on account of the want of the sea. Why, I
tell you, I have not seen a ship myself for this eighteen months;
there's a state of things, you see, that won't do to last, because one
would get dry-mouldy: it's a shocking thing to see nothing but land,
land, wherever you go." From the preceding conversation may be gathered what were the designs of
the Bannerworth family, and what progress had been made in carrying them
out. From the moment they had discovered the title-deeds of the
Dearbrook property, they had ceased to care about the large sum of money
which Marmaduke Bannerworth had been supposed to have hidden in some
portion of Bannerworth Hall. They had already passed through quite enough of the busy turmoils of
existence to be grateful for anything that promised ease and competence,
and that serenity of mind which is the dearest possession which any one
can compass. Consequently was it, that, with one accord, they got rid of all yearning
after the large sum which the doctor was so anxious to procure for them,
and looked forward to a life of great happiness and contentment.