He was the first man who had ever said a kind word about the
spirit, and Whibley loved him for it. The Count seemed as though
he could never see enough of Whibley after that evening, and the
three of them--Whibley, the Count, and "Maria"--would sit up half
the night talking together.
The precise particulars I never heard. Whibley was always very
reticent on the matter. Whether "Maria" really did exist, and the
Count deliberately set to work to bamboozle her (she was fool
enough for anything), or whether she was a mere hallucination of
Whibley's, and the man tricked Whibley by "hypnotic suggestions"
(as I believe it is called), I am not prepared to say. The only
thing certain is that "Maria" convinced Whibley that the Count had
discovered a secret gold mine in Peru. She said she knew all about
it, and counselled Whibley to beg the Count to let him put a few
thousands into the working of it. "Maria," it appeared, had known
the Count from his boyhood, and could answer for it that he was the
most honourable man in all South America. Possibly enough he was.
The Count was astonished to find that Whibley knew all about his
mine.
Pages:
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207