speak to her--if you think you must
speak."

"I'm sure I must. If all goes well to-morrow, she can marry me without
fear of scandal--if she's willing to marry me, after what I've done
to-night."

"She will be. And she shall hear from me that this woman who killed
herself and our spy of the Abbey were one. As for to-morrow--all _must_
go well! But--the thing you found--in the coffin. You'll have to dispose
of it somehow."

"It's for _you_ to decide about that--I think."

"For me? What can it have to do with me?"

"You'll see--in my cabin. If you'll trust me and come."

I went with him, my heart pounding as I entered the room. It seemed as
if some visible trace of tragedy must remain. But there was nothing. All
was in order. The brandy bottle had disappeared--into the sea, no doubt.
The tumbler so cleverly taken from this cabin was clean, and in its
place. There were no bits of broken glass from the phial to be seen. And
the odour of bitter almonds with which the place had reeked was no
longer very strong. The salt breeze blowing through two wide-open
portholes would kill it before dawn.

"But where is the _thing_?" I asked.

"In the study," Roger answered. He motioned me to pass through the
curtained archway, as I had passed before; and there I had to cover my
lips with my hand to press back a cry. The desk, the big chair I had sat
in, and a sofa were covered with objects familiar to me as my own face
in a looking-glass. There was Queen Anne's silver tea-service and
Napoleon's green-and-gold coffee cups. There were Li Hung Chang's box of
red lacquer and the wondrous Buddha; there were the snuff-boxes, the
miniatures, the buckles and brooches; the fat watch of George the
Fourth; half unrolled lay Charles the First's portrait and sketch, and
the Gobelin panel which had been the Empress Josephine's. In fact, all
the treasures stolen from Courtenaye Abbey! Here they were in Roger
Fane's cabin on board the _Naiad_, and they had come out of a coffin
found floating in the sea!

* * * * *

When I could think at all, I tried to think the puzzle out, and I tried
to do it alone, for Roger was in no state to bend his mind to trifles.
But, in his almost pathetic gratitude, he wished to help me; and when we
had locked up the things in three drawers of his desk, we sat together
discussing theories. Something must be planned, something settled,
before day!

It was Roger who unfolded the whol