“Is it there now.”
She hesitated a moment, but a life-time of truth is not easily turned aside. “John,” she answered, “it is not there. It is gone.”
“I thought so. Did you sell it for Edgar, some time when he wanted money?”
“Edgar never asked me for a shilling. I never gave him a shilling unknown to you. And I did not sell the ring at all. I would never have done such a thing.”
“But I have seen the ring on a lady’s hand.”
“Do you know the lady?”
“I think I could find her.”
“I will tell you about it, John. I loaned it to Kitty, and Piers saw it and wanted one made like it for Kitty, and so he took it away to show it to his jeweller, and lost it that very night. He has moved heaven and earth to find it, but got neither word nor sight of it. You ought to tell him where you saw it.”
“Not yet, Maude.”
“Tell me then.”