114 OVER ON THE ISLAND

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She could see that I was perturbed, so I decided that I had better confess.

“I met a man

“Ah ha! ”

“He was a hunchback . .

Jean straightened up suddenly.

“ Did he have a livid scar on his right cheek, and did he carry a funny old shovel?”

“ Yes, he did. Did you meet him—when and how? ”

”My child, you have had a rare treat! That was Point Prim’s oldest inhabitant. While you were so busy browsing through that old French cemetery this afternoon, an old grey-haired woman from Pinette told me the story.”

“Well?”

”He is over two hundred years old. He lived here with his wife and three small children years and years ago. All around him in this district were settled other French families—as poor and as happy as he was. They took him away in one of the earliest transports. But when they took him he kept asking and asking to be allowed to come back here for only a short time. They did not understand and they refused. He was put on board the Violet. ”

“ But the Violet went down in the Atlantic!”

“True. But he had to come back. He had buried what he valued most near an old pine tree. He came back to find and guard his treasure. ”

“A ghost! ”

”Yes!”

”I thought maybe he was a Scotsman who had forgotten a sovereign and had hurried back ”

“Oh, he’s not the only one. His uncle buried some

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