“I did. Then when I decided to leave my suitcase under the dock for a quick getaway should I try to escape from this place later on, I brought the sapphire back with me. I was afraid to leave it, even sewed up in a dress hem, for fear someone would find the suitcase.”
“Yet you substituted a fake gem for the real one.”
“I did,” Rhoda agreed, “because I was certain Highland sooner or later would attempt to steal the gem.”
“Then what became of the real sapphire? Is it safe?”
“I hope so,” Rhoda said earnestly. “Let’s see if we can find it.”
Taking Penny by the hand, she led her down the hall to the cloister. At a niche in the wall, she abruptly paused.
“It should be here, beneath this broken statuette,” she declared. “I found a tiny crack in the stone, just large enough to insert the gem. Lend me a hairpin, please.”
Penny gave her a bobbypin. Rhoda pried beneath the statuette and presently found the small object for which she searched.
“It’s here!” she announced triumphantly. “See!”
Into Penny’s hand she dropped a star-shaped gem which under artificial light had taken on a violet hue.