"Oh," said the Major staring, "so you know."
"Yes. Lo-Keong and Rogers were with me yesterday."
"Lo-Keong. Why that is the man who owns the fan?"
"Exactly. He is a Marquis, and high in the service of the Empress Dowager of China. As to the fan--" Rupert rapidly detailed how it had been found in the cloisters and related also the subsequent discovery, that the box attached to the chain in the tree trunk, was empty. "And the man who took the fan from Miss Wharf's dead body stole the packet," said Rupert, "so it is not likely he will risk arrest by coming forward to give the papers to Lo-Keong."
Tidman sat down astounded at these revelations. "I wish I had been present," said he, "I was always curious about the fan's secret. A very ingenious device, Ainsleigh."
"Very," assented Rupert dryly: then he cast a side-long look on the Major, and spoke to the point. "You had nothing to do with the stealing of the fan I hope, Major."
"I," cried Tidman bouncing from his seat like an india rubber ball.
"Well you see," went on Rupert, "we met on the beach after eleven, but it is just possible in spite of Forge's evidence, that Miss Wharf may have been killed before then."
"And you believe that I killed her. Thank you Ainsleigh."
"My good friend," rejoined the young man calmly, "Lo-Keong believes that Tung-yu broke his oath before the god, and strangled Miss Wharf. But I disagree with him, as Tung-yu could have procured the fan by milder means, the next day. Hwei could not have strangled the woman, as he was haunting the Abbey grounds to see if the packet was still safe. Forge, in a letter to my wife, insists that he never got the tie, and certainly did not kill Miss Wharf, so--"