"Yes! Have you read the papers?"
"A few, but not enough. The doctors took them from me and—"
"Gently, Mr. Beecot. Let us talk as little as possible. Where did you get that brooch?"
"Why do you want to know? You don't suspect me, I hope?"
Hurd laughed. "No. You have been in this ward all the time. But as the brooch was used cruelly to seal the dead man's mouth, it seems to me, and to Inspector Prince, that the whole secret of the murder lies in tracing it to its original possessor. Now tell me all about it," said Billy, and spread out his note-book.
"I will if you'll tell me about Miss Norman. I'm engaged to marry her and I hear she is ill."
"Oh, she is much better," said Hurd, pausing pencil in hand, "don't distress yourself. That young lady is all right; and when you marry her you'll marry an heiress, as I learn from the lawyer who does the business of the deceased."
"I don't care about her being the heiress. Will you take a message to her from me?"
"Certainly. What is it?" Hurd spoke quite sympathetically, for even though he was a detective he was a human being with a kindly heart.
"Tell her how sorry I am, and that I'll come and see her as soon as I can leave this confounded hospital. Thanks for your kindness, Mr. Hurd. Now, what do you wish to know? Oh, yes—about the opal serpent, which, as you say, and as I think, seems to be at the bottom of all the trouble. Listen," and Paul detailed all he knew, taking the story up to the time of his accident.