"Libel again Major Tidman."
"Pooh--Pooh," said Forge rising, "let us go Lavinia."
"Not till I hear about the fan. For the sake of my dear Sophia who has the fan, I want to hear."
"All I know, is, that the fan was advertised for----"
"I saw the advertisement," said Miss Pewsey, "but I said nothing to dear Sophia, although I recognized the fan from the description in the newspaper. She never looks at the papers, and trusts to me to tell her the news."
"So you kept from her a piece of news out of which she could make five thousand pounds."
"Really and truly," said Miss Pewsey clutching her bag convulsively and with glittering eyes, "who says so--who pays it--who--?"
"One question at a time," interrupted Tidman, now quite master of himself. "Tung-yu, the man Ainsleigh saw at the Joss House in Perry Street Whitechapel, offered five thousand pounds for the return of the fan. Ainsleigh saw the advertisement and--"
"I know how he came to inquire about the fan," said Miss Pewsey, "Dr. Forge told me, but I did not know the amount offered."
"Will you tell Miss Wharf now."