"Why all this anxiety, Mrs Jeal?" asked Tempest, annoyed.
"Well, sir! of course I know that Mrs Gabriel does not approve of Mr Haverleigh's behaviour—"
"That has nothing to do with the matter," interposed Mr Tempest, sternly, and Leo gave him a grateful look. "All you have to do is to state facts."
Mrs Jeal dropped an ironical curtsey. "Very good, sir," said she; "but I must say that I thought Mrs Gabriel had cut off Mr Haverleigh's allowance and that he was pawning some jewellery to keep himself in bread."
"I never pawned anything in my life," said Leo, disgusted at the plain spite of the woman. "Go on, Mrs Jeal. You saw this man Penny, no doubt?"
"I did that!" cried the woman, triumphantly. "I have known him for many years. I went into the shop and into his back parlour. On the table I saw the cup. Yes, gentlemen, you no doubt are surprised. But it was the very cup I had so often seen on the altar of the chapel."
"It is wholly false!" cried Leo, rising. "I never pawned the cup. Someone must have impersonated me."
"It was yourself, Mr Haverleigh," insisted the woman. "I had a talk with Old Penny, but of course I said nothing about having seen the cup before. I did not mention that I knew you. Penny told me that he had given you four hundred for the cup. It was worth much more he said, and he was chuckling over the bargain he had made. I left the cup in his possession and returned home. Several times I went to the shop to hear if you had redeemed the cup. But it was still with Penny. I then had to attend to my father and gave the matter little thought. But when I returned and heard how you, Mr Haverleigh, had stolen the cup, it became my duty to let his reverence know what you had done with it. And I hear," added Mrs Jeal, with a malignant smile, "that your debts have been paid."
"Who told you so?" asked Raston, who hitherto had been silent.
"Mrs Gabriel. I went to tell her what Mr Haverleigh had done. She said that she expected as much, as she had refused to give him the money to pay his debts. So that is all I know. I am prepared to take my oath in a court of law that this is true."