"One would think that Martha was a conspirator," she exclaimed.
"Perhaps she was and perhaps she was not," replied Miss Carrol wearily. "I have been puzzling over the question ever since the box was stolen."
"Stolen!" Harkness rose suddenly to his feet and looked at the girl's pale face with an imperious glance. "What do you mean?"
"What I say," answered Patricia, whose nerves were giving way. "A man came and snatched the jewel from my hand while I looked at it."
"The jewel!" cried Mrs. Sellars alertly. "What jewel?"
"The one which was in the deal box."
"The box which this unknown man thrust into your hand?" asked Harkness.
"Of course. I should not have opened the box, but I did so, because----" Patricia hesitated. It seemed useless to tell these two very matter-of-fact people about the weird sensations which she had felt while holding the jewel, as they would neither understand nor believe. Swiftly changing her mind, she ended her sentence differently--"because the whole circumstances were so strange that I wished to know what was in the box."
"You were afraid that Mrs. Pentreddle had sent you on a nefarious errand?"
"Yes, I was, and with good reason," said Patricia, and Harkness nodded approvingly.