“I’m afraid you are right. Still, we have several things to fall back upon that will help us, even if the evidence of the ring proves valueless.”
“It cannot prove valueless,” said Annie now, with considerable decision. “Captain Gerard will relate how he became possessed of it, and there is his letter to us by way of corroboration of his evidence. The Maltese jeweller will also help us, if necessary. So, even if we cannot bring the real culprits up for judgment, we can move for a new trial, and even if judge and jurors are as addlepated and obstinate as you would have us to believe, they must see that the case is much deeper and more complicated than they supposed. And if it is their natural propensity to doubt the word of people accused of crime, they will be as likely to exercise it upon the man now accused. Mr. Peary, our solicitor, must push things on without delay, and we will rely upon such evidence as we can produce, if we can secure a new trial. Meanwhile, there is still time to do some active work, and a plan I have in my head may result in the discovery of a clue to Hugh Stavanger’s whereabouts.”
What that plan was Annie would not disclose, though pressed upon the point both by her father and the detective. The latter was very much annoyed at the turn events had taken, and was by no means sanguine as to the ultimate results of the investigations that were being pursued on Harley Riddell’s behalf. But he went away with a higher admiration of Annie Cory’s pluck than he had ever felt for that of any woman in his life.
“She is game to the core,” he thought, “and if anybody can help the poor fellow in gaol, it is his sweetheart, who, it seems to me, cannot be daunted. She is one in a million. Most girls would have sat down and fretted, instead of trying to remedy the evil. Well, good luck to her, say I. If a girl like that doesn’t deserve to succeed, nobody does.”
From which remarks it may be gathered that Mr. Gay was not one of those who, to cover their discomfiture, would begrudge success to another, because he or she did not happen to be in the profession.
A few weeks later the “Merry Maid” was safely docked again, and Annie, accompanied by her father, and still figuring as Mr. Ernest Fraser, was sitting in the cabin of the steamer talking to Captain Gerard. They had awaited his arrival at the dock, being too impatient to stay at home until he had time to visit them.
His face lengthened considerably as he listened to the long account of disappointment and failure they had to give him.
“Well, I’m hanged if ever I knew anything like it,” he said at last, in a tone of great vexation. “I thought everything was plain sailing, and never dreamt that Stavanger would alter his mind about coming on to England. You can’t touch him in Spain, and for anything we know he may stick there. I wonder where Cochrane is. He must have taken the alarm, too.”
“We hope to be able to help the case considerably by means of the ring you wrote to us about,” observed Mr. Cory.
“Well, the imp of mischief seems to be at work,” said the captain, emphasising his vexation by an oath. “Even the ring will be no use as evidence now. At Malta we coaled, coming home. There I met an old chum, who, like myself, was on his first voyage as master. I’m afraid we both jubilated till we were half seas over. I was cutting a dash with the diamond ring at the time. My friend offered to go on board my ship with me. As we were being rowed to the ship he noticed my ring, and made some remark about it. I pulled it off to show it to him. Whether it was his fault or mine I hardly know, but between us we let the ring drop into the water, with the result that it is lost beyond recovery.”