It seems they had a farm in Cornwall"-- here he sniffed at his scentless orchid with an air of enjoyment, a habit of his when his subject interested him.

"It was a rotten concern--farm buildings out of repair, and a few scrubby fields with more stones than grass.

Miss Templeton was just going to sell it for a mere song when some one discovered tin.

My word, those few acres rose in value! Gyp declared they realised quite a small fortune on it.

That was only three or four years ago." "Indeed," returned Malcolm drily; "if you will pardon my speaking plainly, Mr.Jacobi, I do not think the Misses Templeton's business affairs are any concern of ours, and I would prefer to talk on any other subject." This was too manifest a hint to be disregarded even by the irrepressible Jacobi; but the next minute Malcolm added, "Will you excuse my leaving you, I see some old friends of mine on their way to the Pool, and they will expect me to join them;" but if Malcolm intended to do so, he chose a most circuitous route.
"Rum chap that," observed Saul Jacobi, turning on his heel--"not easy to get any information out of him; looks as though he had swallowed the poker first, and then the tongs as a sort of relish afterwards, and neither of them agreed with him.