CHAPTER IV.
To keep such a romance to himself was beyond the powers of Mr.Chalk.
The captain had made no conditions as to secrecy, and he therefore considered himself free to indulge in hints to his two greatest friends, which caused those gentlemen to entertain some doubts as to his sanity.
Mr.Robert Stobell, whose work as a contractor had left a permanent and unmistakable mark upon Binchester, became imbued with a hazy idea that Mr.Chalk had invented a new process of making large diamonds.

Mr.
Jasper Tredgold, on the other hand, arrived at the conclusion that a highly respectable burglar was offering for some reason to share his loot with him.

A conversation between Messrs.

Stobell and Tredgold in the High Street only made matters more complicated.
"Chalk always was fond of making mysteries of things," complained Mr.
Tredgold.
Mr.Stobell, whose habit was taciturn and ruminative, fixed his dull brown eyes on the ground and thought it over.

"I believe it's all my eye and Betty Martin," he said, at length, quoting a saying which had been used in his family as an expression of disbelief since the time of his great-grandmother.
"He comes in to see me when I'm hard at work and drops hints," pursued his friend.