He dropped into his chair before the fire again. His head went into his hands. Potch knew that Michael was crying. He stood by silently—unable to touch him, unable to realise the whole of Michael's tragedy, and yet overcome with love and sympathy for him. He knew only as much of it as affected Sophie. His sympathy and instinct where Sophie was concerned enabled him to guess why Michael had done what he had.
"It was for Sophie," he said.
"I intended to give them back to Paul—when she was old enough to go away, Potch," Michael said after a while. "Then she went away; and I don't know why I didn't give them to him at once. The things got hold of me, somehow—for a while, at least. I couldn't make up my mind to give them back to him—kept makin' excuses.... Then, when I did make up my mind and went to get them, they were gone."
Potch nodded thoughtfully.
"You don't suspect anybody?" he asked.
Michael shook his head. "How can I? Nobody knew I had them, and yet ... that night ... twice, I thought I had heard someone moving near me.... The memory of it's stayed with me all these years. Sometimes I think it means something—that somebody must have been near and seen and heard. Then that seems absurd. It was a bright night; I looked, and there was no one in sight. There's only one person besides you ... saw ... I think—knew I had the stones...."
"Maud?"
Michael nodded. "She came into the room with you that night. You remember? ... And I've wondered since ... if she, perhaps, or Jun ... At any rate, Armitage knows, or suspects—I don't know which it is really.... He says he has proof. There's that stone I put in Charley's parcel—a silly thing to do when you come to think of it. But I didn't like the idea of leaving Charley nothing to sell when he got to Sydney; and that was the only decent bit of stone I'd got. Making up the parcel in a hurry, I didn't think what putting in that bit of stuff might lead to. But for that, I can't think how Armitage could have proof I had the stones except through Maud. And she's been in New York, and——"
"She may have told him she saw you the night she came for me," Potch said.
"That's what I think," Michael agreed.