hat Braddock is so good that he can afford to
throw a stone," said Archie rather sourly. "Mrs. Jasher has not behaved
well, but I should like to hear her complete story before judging. There
must be a lot of good in her, or Lucy, who has been with her a great
deal, would have found her out long ago. I go by a woman's judgment of a
woman. But Mrs. Jasher must have been anxious to marry."

"She was; as Professor Braddock knows," said Random quickly.

"I am not thinking of that so much as of what Widow Anne told me."

"Oh," said Don Pedro, looking up from where he was seated, "so you have
seen that old woman? What does she say about the clothes?"

"She sticks to her story. Sidney, she declares, borrowed the clothes to
give to me for a model. Now, I never asked Bolton to do this, so I fancy
the disguise must have been intended for himself, or for Mrs. Jasher."

"But what had Mrs. Jasher to do with him?" demanded Random sharply.

"Well, it's odd," replied Hope slowly, "but Mrs. Bolton declares that
her son was in love with Mrs. Jasher, and when he returned from Malta
intended to marry her."

"Impossible!" cried Sir Frank. "She engaged herself to Braddock."

"But only after Bolton's death, remember."

Don Pedro nodded.

"That is true. But what you say, Mr. Hope, proves the truth of Hervey's
theory."

"In what way?"

"Mrs. Jasher, as we know from what Random told us, wanted money. She
would not marry a man who was poor. Bolton was poor, but of course the
emeralds would make him wealthy, as they are of immense value. Probably
he intended to steal them in order to marry this woman. This implicates
Mrs. Jasher in the crime."

"Yes," assented Sir Frank, nodding. "But as Bolton did not know that the
emeralds existed before he bought the mummy in Malta, I do not see why
he should borrow a disguise beforehand for Mrs. Jasher to meet him at
the Sailor's Rest."

"The thing is easily settled," said Hope impatiently. "Let us both go to
Mrs. Jasher's this evening, and insist upon the truth being told. If she
confesses about her secret engagement to Sidney Bolton, she may admit
that the clothes were borrowed for her."

"And she may admit also that she placed the manuscript in my room," said
Sir Frank after a pause. "Hervey did not place it there, but it is just
possible that Mrs. Jasher, having got it from Bolton when she talked to
him through the window, may have done so."

"Nonsense!" said Hope with vigorous commonsens