“Not in what I’m trying to say,” she continued. “I don’t remember it word for word, but it went on to say that the valuable jade pieces had been collected during Paul Riker’s travels through the Far East. They were little statues of gods and goddesses! I had forgotten that until this very minute. And there was something else about their value being even greater if they were matched pairs. Does that mean there’s a goddess for every god? Then, if one happened to be missing, it would be worth a lot of money, wouldn’t it? And if the burglars knew where it was, they’d try to steal it, wouldn’t they? And they’d try to find out about the rest of the collection. Oh, Peter! That was what you meant when you said you were on the trail of quite a number of green dolls, wasn’t it? And this one I found may lead us to all the others.”
“It may,” Peter replied soberly. “On the other hand, it may lead us into more trouble. If Mr. Riker himself dropped it in the vault—”
“I give up,” Judy interrupted. “But this green ‘doll’ is jade, isn’t it, and it was stolen from Mr. Riker’s collection, don’t you think, Peter?”
“Yes, I do,” Peter agreed, “but if anyone stole it I’m afraid you’re the guilty one, Angel. You’d better let me have it before it gets you into more trouble. It may be the mate to the one Mrs. Riker had stolen from her.”
“Oh dear!” Judy began. “I hadn’t thought of that. I didn’t mean—”
“Of course you didn’t,” Peter reassured her. “I know your motives were good when you took it, and a great deal of good may come out of it, so don’t worry.”
“I won’t,” Judy promised, inspiration suddenly erasing all worry from her mind. “Oh, Peter!” she cried. “I have a wonderful idea. Come up to the attic with me. There’s something up there I want to show you.”
CHAPTER XV
Secrets of the East
Judy and Peter climbed to the third floor, tiptoeing so as not to disturb their sleeping guests. All was quiet on the second floor. The stairway went right on up to what was not a cobwebby old attic, but three neat little rooms at the top of the house.