"It sounds quite like a story out of a book," Eve commented.
The Captain chuckled. "Yeah, it would make good reading, I calculate, if all the facts of Judd's career was set down. A lively old bird he was, full of funny ideas, allus getting himself talked about. Not in a bad way, you understand, just odd--doing things different from the run of folks."
"Was it he who set up those statues and vases and things in the garden?" I asked.
"Aye, that was one of the things. Those statues made a great stir. Folks round here had never heard tell of statues in a garden. They used to drive from all around just to see 'em."
"But where in the world did he get them?" asked Eve. "They look awfully old."
"Uh-huh, they was meant to. Judd said he got 'em from a Greek temple, but I guess more likely he picked them up in a second-hand shop in Athens. Judd allus was one for a joke. There was one he called Mercury and one Diana."
"Diana--Mercury," Eve repeated thoughtfully. "There wasn't--wasn't one called Circe, was there?"
I held my breath. The Captain began to fill his pipe. "Circe? Well now, there might have been at that; I can't rightly tell all the names he gave 'em."
"Tell me," Eve demanded, leaning forward with sudden eagerness, "did Captain Craven leave any--any money--or valuables or anything?"
Captain Trout shook his head. "I guess Carter got most of the money before the old man died. Judd used to say in his later days that all he had in the world was the place. That and the blue emerald," he added, with a chuckle.
"The blue emerald?" I cried. "But how could an emerald be blue? I thought they were green."
"That's what I never could figger out myself," the Captain answered. "I never saw it myself. Some said it was give him by a Rajah in India 'count of some service he done him. But the Cap'n allus was pretty mysterious about it--liked to keep folks guessing. Me, I didn't take much stock in that Rajah chap. But most folks used to eat up the whole story."
"Never heard as they did. But then I was away for years. After the Cap'n retired and built his house, I didn't see him very often. But every now and then when I'd come home, I'd hear talk about the blue emerald and every time it was wo'th a little more. It sure had the villagers mesmerized."