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"Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?"

"Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should

suspect him."

"How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with

the coronet in his hand?"

"Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take

my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say

no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in

prison!"

"I shall never let it drop until the gems are found-never, Mary!

Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences

to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman

down from London to inquire more deeply into it."

"This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me.

"No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in

the stable lane now."