“Oh, so she told you that, did she? Yes, I admit she is my wife, and a bitter one she has been to me. But this is not the time or place to talk of these things. I could defend myself on that score if necessary, but there is no need. Place me in safety, Alan, and I can explain everything. You do not believe that I, am guilty; surely you don’t?” and he looked piteously at the young man, shaking like a leaf.
“No, I can’t say that I am absolutely convinced of your guilt,” admitted Alan cautiously, “but when you gave yourself up why did you run away again?”
“I can explain that,” replied Sorley with a cunning look, “only give me time, and all will be explained. I got away in the fog and came down here on my motor bicycle which I had kept ready in town. Now I am hiding here in a secret place below the earth—down in the cellars. There are ranges and ranges of cellars here, you know, Alan. I come up here at night to get food which long ago I placed in that cupboard”—he pointed to the recess with a trembling hand—“biscuits and potted meat, whisky and claret.”
“That storage looks as though you expected to be accused,” said Alan dryly.
Sorley nodded. “I was never sure of Louisa,” he muttered shuffling with his feet. “I knew she would get me into trouble some day, and she has done so. She is here now. Yes, I know that, for I saw her from a peephole yesterday evening wandering round the house. I daresay she entered it, for she knows all its secrets as well as I do. And if she finds me”—he gripped Alan’s coat—“she will give me up. I must get away; help me to fly beyond the seas until such time as I can prove my innocence. I won’t take the peacock with me,” he went on eagerly, “you can have that, and you can find the treasure. I shall only take my own jewels,” and he glanced at the panel which was still open.
“The treasure has been found, Mr. Sorley.”
“What—what—what!” the man would have fallen had not Fuller held him up.
“Marie and I solved the riddle!” and to quieten the babbling creature Alan hurriedly related everything in as few words as possible. “The peacock and the jewels are now at Yarbury’s Bank, so things are all right in that respect, and Marie is now wealthy.”
“She has the jewels,” muttered the old man jealously. “Oh, the beautiful jewels. They are beautiful, are they not, Alan?”
“Don’t trouble about what is not yours,” said Fuller sharply, “what we have to do is to come to an understanding. Miss Grison is here, staying with Mrs. Millington, while Morad-Bakche is at The Red Fox, and I shrewdly suspect that Inspector Moon will come down this very day, since he guesses that you are here, because Marie let drop a word or so about the noises she heard.”