Tait looked at George with triumph in his eye. "I thought not," he said.
"If he said that he did, he said so to shield me," pursued Miss Ellis, and looked gratefully at the confused young man.
"What do you mean by that, Maud?" asked Tait tartly.
"I made an appointment with George in the picture-gallery at three in the morning, as I wished to help him to marry Lesbia Hale."
"Why, I thought you loved Walker yourself!" cried the astonished stockbroker.
"So I did--so I do," breathed Miss Ellis, drooping her sandy head. "But, to my mind, love means sacrifice. George--for I have the right to call him so now--George would not have been happy with me, as he loved Lesbia Hale, so I arranged to give him up to her, and to make things right with her father. For that reason I waited for him in the gallery. There I was suddenly pounced upon, and a handkerchief soaked in chloroform was clapped over my mouth. I daresay the person who did it, stole the key from the chain round my neck, and opened the strong-room to steal the jewels. But I knew nothing from the moment I became insensible until I revived to find you all standing round me. That is the story I have told the inspector, save that I kept quiet my appointment with George."
"Then you believe him to be innocent," said the stockbroker, confounded by the frankness of this story.
Maud arose indignantly. "The man I love can never be guilty," she cried.
George blushed a rosy red. He saw that he had not behaved over well to this brave girl, who had so cleverly exonerated him, although he really had no reason to accuse himself of duplicity towards her. But in a confused way he felt that she was heaping coals of fire on his head, and was more drawn to her than he had ever been before. Here, indeed, was a friend worth having. With Lesbia as his wife and Maud as his friend, life would indeed be joyous.
In his innocence it never struck the young man that no male can drive, either in double harness or in tandem fashion, two women who both love him. He thought that Maud, having discovered that the true meaning of love was sacrifice, behaved thus because of her newly-acquired knowledge. "Thank you, Miss Ellis," he said simply, but his looks implied volumes more.