So
of course it was a foregone conclusion that he should win the girl
that his younger brother, among others, adored to distraction.
"His family hoped that his love for his young wife would change him
for the better. But there was something tamelessly wild in Richard
Hynds. He would have done very well, very well indeed, in the
_Golden Hind_ with Drake, or in the _Jesus_ with Morgan. He did not
fit in a gentler generation, and a mild life had no charm for him.
Gossip buzzed with his name, even in a day when gentlemen were
permitted to behave pretty much as they pleased.
"Up to this time there had never been anything altogether
unpardonable charged against him. But one fine morning the Hynds
jewels were missing. Remember that the Hyndses had always been a
wealthy and powerful family. The theft of those jewels was no
trumpery affair. For generations they had been adding to that
collection--sometimes a lustrous pearl, sometimes a flawless
emerald; once it was a sapphire that had belonged to a French queen,
once a pair of rubies that had hung in the ears of a duchess beloved
of King Charles.
"Richard's mother happened to be a meek and quiet body, deeply
religious, something of a Quakeress, so she wore them but seldom.
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