"I have not! I couldn't! Every bit of it would only drag me deeper into the mire of inexplicable mystery."
"Will you tell it all to me?"
"Gladly, if you'll promise to believe me."
"I can't promise that, blindly, but I'll tell you that I think I Shall be able to recognize the truth as you tell it. Did you write the letter signed William Ashton?"
"Lord, no! Why would I do that?"
"To get the pin——"
"Now, hold on, before we go further, Mr. Stone, do satisfy my curiosity. Is that pin, that foolish, common little pin of any value?"
"I think so, Mr. Bannard. I can't tell until I see it——"
"But man, why see it? It's just like any common pin! I examined it myself, and it isn't bent or twisted, or different in any way from millions of other pins."
"Quite evidently then, you've not tried to get possession of it. Your scorn of it is sincere, I'm certain."