"I can see," said Audrey, grasping the position quicker than her husband. "I think, considering the circumstances, she acted wisely. What did she do then?"
"Went back to bed, and told Lanton next morning that she had been asleep all the time. So that is her story, in a way. Other portions of it I shall tell you later, but not just now."
"Why not?" asked Shawe, suspiciously.
"That explanation comes later also," said Miss Toat, with an odd little smile. "But to go on. I left Miss Pearl and sought out Eddy Vail."
"Why did you do that?" demanded Audrey, quickly.
"Because I guessed that only he could have had a key manufactured to fit the court door. He was in a terrible state of mind when, I questioned him, and admitted that he had such a key."
"Then he is the criminal!" cried Shawe, triumphantly.
"He denies that he is," replied Perry Toat, quietly. "He told me that he got the key made as he wanted to enter the Pink Shop when he could without his wife knowing that he was under her roof. Badoura admitted him sometimes by the inner door, as she easily got the key from the nail in the still-room."
"But why should there be secrecy?" asked Ralph, puzzled.
"Well," said Perry Toat, after a pause, "if you ask me, I think Mr. Edmund Vail was in the habit of robbing his wife when he could, with the connivance of Badoura. I don't blame the girl over much, as she was crazy, and is crazy, about the scamp. But we can discuss this later. Meanwhile you must understand that Eddy Vail had the skeleton key made for the purpose I told you of. His story is that he entered the court about a quarter to eight o'clock, and as the window of the bedroom wherein Madame Coralie and Lady Branwin were talking was open, he saw the one display the diamonds to the other. Immediately he resolved to steal them, and, as Badoura had left the inner door unlocked, he ran upstairs at five minutes to eight to put the still-room clock back half an hour and prove an alibi. He intended later to steal out again into the court, and climb through the window to take the jewels."