The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2003, Síða 32

74
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 58 #2
O’Brian raising his voice a little.
“We have not found Madeleine
Vanda.”
“I searched for her for a whole year.”
said O’Brian
“And did you eventually find her?”
“Yes, I found her at last. She told me
everything that she knew about the matter.
But it was very little. She certainly remem-
bered Berg the castaway. She remembered
that he had disappeared from the hotel one
day during a blinding blizzard and she
never heard antything of him after that. She
told me the name of the hotel and the
innkeeper and her story compares
favourably with the last letter from the
castaway. But she has not the slightest idea
about the hidden treasure nor does it mat-
ter. One aspect of her story differs from the
castaway’s letter, and that is about his
departure from the Hotel. She says that it
was late in March, but he said it had been in
February.”
“That is all good and well,” said Mr.
Iceland, “But you have never asked this
lady to come with you and show you the
house.”
“No,” said O’Brian after some
thought. “I have never asked her to come
here with me and show me the house.”
“But in the last letter Mr. Berg places
great emphasis on the fact that Madeleine
Vanda should point out the house—should
go there with those that come here from
Iceland to get the treasure.”
“It is my belief,” said O’Brian as if he
had been wakened from a dream, “That
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now I understand what you are getting at,
Mr. Iceland. I see that it is absolutely nec-
essary that this lady come here. She can
maybe tell us something that will shed light
on this matter in order that we can bring it
to an end. And tomorrow, at two in the
afternoon, I will be here with this lady
without fail.”
“And I shall be here at the same time,”
said Mr. Iceland with satisfaction. “I know
now that you understand me.”
They then bade me goodbye and set
off to the west end of town.
But I went home to my room and I
took a solemn oath to not go to work the
next day. The next day, when it was nearly
two o’ clock, Mr. Iceland came to the
crooked house with a suitcase in his hand.
A few minutes later O’Brian arrived. And I
have never seen a more obliging and mod-
est man as O’Brian, when he was helping
this dark skinned lady out of the carriage
and assisted her up the staircase that led
upstairs in the crooked house. Madeleine
Vanda seemed to be happy and was partic-
ularly well dressed. I felt that she was pret-
tier than when I saw her last, and all her
actions were graceful. O’Brian introduced
her to Mr. Iceland, and I saw that she
regarded him with great interest, as if she
felt she had seen him at some time before,
but couldn’t think where it had been. Mr.
Iceland greeted her in a most friendly fash-
ion, and said he had wanted to meet her for
a long time. She smiled good naturally and
curtsied. She remembered that we had met
before, and offered me her hand and she
greeted my cousin cordially. I immediately
noticed that she was especially talkative
and she spoke rapidly, just like a little girl
who had just returned home from a long
trip and has much to tell her brothers and
sisters.
“Do you recognize this house, Mrs. Le
Turneau?” asked O’Brian when we had
been seated in the dining room for a while.
“Yes” replied Madeleine Vanda, and
looked around the room. “I know this
house very well. It was once a hotel and
was then called “The Buffalo”, and it was
often full of guests. The room which we are
in now was used as a bedroom, and there
were often three or four beds in it. And it