The three ladies were followed into the verandah by coffee and the men, and Salwey, drawing up a low chair beside Verona, said:
"Did you ever see this pretty thing before?" As he spoke he dropped a ring into her lap.
She picked it up and exclaimed, "I should think so—my long-lost property! Where did you find it?"
"Can you swear to it?"
"I can do more, if necessary. I was in the shop when auntie bought it—a black pearl, set in brilliants. I wanted all emeralds, but she insisted. Look here," and she unpinned a plain, gold safety brooch, "do you see this?"
In another moment her nimble fingers had unscrewed the cluster in the ring, and screwed it into the brooch.
"There!" handing it back, and slipping the ring on her finger. "It makes three separate articles—a ring, a brooch, and a bangle. Are you convinced?"
"I am. May I have the brooch and ring? And I must ask you to swear to your property before Uncle Tom, who is a magistrate."
"Very well, though I feel slightly alarmed; it sounds so formal—and as if I had been breaking the law."
"Do you know that you have done an immense service, for you have not only given me a clue to the recovery of your jewels. This," holding up the safety-pin, "will get a notorious evil-doer two years' hard labour, with a shorn head, and chains, in Rajahpore jail. Now, I wish you could put me on the track of Saloo, the money-lender!"