"That's nothing to do with the matter. The sooner we are finished, the better. Wasn't that what you said? Well, he wrote from Hamburg to his sister, and begged her to pay in the four thousand kroners to a well-known bill-discounter. That is why she tried to raise money on her jewels. That failed, and so the bill-discounter applied to old Frick, who, without saying a word, paid the bill. He guessed at once that his nephew had forged his name."
"How did you get to know all this?"
"Well, that's nothing to do with the matter. It is enough for you to know that I had my interests to look after, and that one always finds helpers when one has got money."
"And then what about your relation with Evelina? How do you explain that?"
"To hell with you and your questions! Is it necessary for you to know any more? Well, never mind! I got to know of her relations with the actor; I surprised them once in the garden at Ballarat. After the arrest I sent her a letter wherein I professed deep sympathy with her case, and told her if she would deny everything and keep silent I would do my best to get her acquitted so that she could marry her lover.
"It was, then, to get money for him that she stole the diamond?"
"The actor, as you may guess, had seduced her, but refused to marry her unless she would provide money so that they could leave the country. He made a fool of her twice. I fancy, however, it was more for the sake of giving the child a father, than anything else, that made her so anxious to marry that fellow."
"He got the five thousand kroners, then? What did he do with them?"
"He succeeded in depositing them with a friend in Gothenburg, before he was arrested; but when he came there again his friend had vanished. In any case, he wrote to that effect, when he afterward tried to get money out of me. I told him, of course, to go to the devil."
"Will you write down what you have told us, and put your name to it? Remember, we must have a positive proof of my wife's innocence. That was the condition upon which we were to let you go, without mixing up the police in the matter."