"I hide nothing."Helena told him, and she gestured around the room.
Terry looked around.
"None of those items are here in this room, of course. However, each item has a unique story behind it."Helena continued.
"Item? Story? What do you mean?"
"Every possession that she's stolen and kept, she tells me how and where she, uh, obtained it. Most are extraordinarily valuable. She gave them to me."
"You don't care that she-that they were stolen?"
"Why should I? My mother gave them to me. As to how she obtained them, what do you want me to do about it?"
"You could give them back!"he suggested.
"To her?"
"To the owners."
"I am the owner."
"But they were stolen!"
"And?"
They sat quietly for a while.
"You would never steal, would you?"he asked her.
Helena didn't answer.
"I don't know. I never thought about it. Not really, anyway. Well…it would depend, I guess."
"On?"
"Many factors. I wonder…Why?"
Had the thought never crossed her mind, and now his mentioning gave the idea?
"I wouldn't want to see you end up in prison."he added. "Not-"he didn't finish the sentence.
"Like her."Helena added. "That was what you were going to say."
"Well, yes!"
"I thought so. To ending up in prison, supposing I did make up my mind to do it. They couldn't catch me. Anyway,"Helena looked thoughtful. "She stole to help wildlife. Sometimes, anyway. I think that at least on those particular occasions, she did right, you know."
"Stealing is never right!"he insisted. "I don't see how it stealing could have helped wildlife!"
"Money. She did sometimes do it for fun, I guess you could say. Or more because she found it thrilling. But see here, she bid ten thousand-"she suddenly stopped. "Um, it was for a good cause. Please, let's talk about a different one! I don't like this one."
"I thought you said you thought she was right on that occasion. Then why don't you like to talk about it? Because you know it wasn't right?"
"She was right! What…rather…what she did with…with the money from it. It's a bit…complex. I mean, it's relatively simple, at least it started out simple, but it became very…like I said, complex."
So like her to be bringing up things she herself wanted to avoid!she thought to herself. Why did she have to remember exactly that particular one!
"What did she do with it?"
"She didn't exactly donate it. It…she never exactly told me,"she said quickly. "so don't ask me! Ask others!"
"Others?"
"You may find someone who knows."she shrugged. "Or do people around here know so little?"
"Not many people I know would know about that."
Helena just shrugged.
"Don't they? I don't know who you heard it from, but whom ever told you…whatever."she said. "You may find out, you may not! But I doubt you'll find someone who can tell it the way she can. It's an interesting one, actually."
"Interesting, but you don't like it?"
"I may tell you of it sometime. I enjoyed hearing about it. Both about the robbery itself, and about…afterward."
She didn't like to talk about it, but she had found it interesting. He wondered why. Maybe Lady Selina had told her because she hadn't wanted Helena to find out from anyone else. But it seemed that her 'stories' had fascinated Helena too much. Or she'd gotten the wrong impression from them.
"And you know about allof them?"
"I don't know if I could say I know them all, but I think I know at least most of them. But yes, I think that must be where I got my penchant for collecting things myself! That's what a lot of them are, after all. A collection."
As Helena stroked Adela, Terry thought he did not like the sound of that.